An interesting tactic
by Jamie Hook
Summary: Ziva David and Tony DiNozzo somehow wake up together...strapped to a wall in a strange stainless steel room. They have no idea where they are, no clue as to who put them there, and niether does anyone else. my first story :D. And then there was Tiva
1. Chapter 1

Ziva David awoke to the loud crash an immediately understood that something was wrong. First of all her hands were shackled above her head, and she was about ninety eight percent sure she hadn't been like that last night. She was vertically strapped to a wall, and she was about seventy six percent sure she hadn't gone to sleep like that. And Anthony DiNozzo was stretched out in the same dilemma as she was directly next to her. She was about forty percent sure that was wrong as well.

Tony had not roused himself from his slumber yet and Ziva was forced to analyze the situation by herself. Solid stainless steel walls. Approximately fourteen meters square. One door on the far side of the room. Completely void of human life. She warily scanned the walls for a place that a camera might be hidden. She found none.

"Tony," She ventured a hiss and tried to stress her restraints enough to kick him.

"Murph…" Tony mutter slightly in his sleep and unconsciously shifted.

"Tony!"

"What?" He snapped awake and was visibly drawn aback at the predicament he found himself in.

"Nice of you to open your eyes." Ziva commented dryly.

"Where the hell are we?" His gaze scattered around the room with less than half the efficiency that Ziva's had.

"If I knew that I would have probably started off this conversation with something like 'Tony, I know where we are'. " Some of the panic he was feeling was starting to leak over to her and she used her fall back of sarcasm to cover it up. If he had not been here she would have been able to handle this calmly and efficiently, but whoever had done this had done their homework and knew that neither of them could function at a hundred and ten with the other there.

"You know what movie this reminds me of?" Tony smirked as he looked around again, this time more slowly.

"I do not care what movie this reminds you of! This is a serious situation and if you cannot handle it like an adult be quite and let me do the thinking." She muttered as she tested the strength of her restraints. "Now tell me, do you remember anything? Anything that may have happened before this?"

Tony looked stressed for thought for a moment but Ziva completely understood, she couldn't remember anything either. "No…" He sighed. "No, I don't remember anythi- Wait. I remember… I was with you… we were back at the office and … My tires were slashed… we were going home I think… you offered me a ride… and…" He looked off into the empty space in front of him.

"And?" Ziva prompted with urgency as the same loud crash that had woken her earlier made itself heard again.

"I think I offered to take you to dinner…" Tony smirked slightly. "Either that or you forced me to go with you. The last thing I remember was drinking something in a red glass…" He shook his head. "That's all I got."

"Fine. Good enough." The loud crashing sounds grew louder, and by logic's standpoint, closer. "Put on your face of brave, Tony." She warned.

"Brave face… It's brav- Never mind."

"You have time to be sarcastic? This is serious!" Ziva snarled.

"Wha- _I _have time to be sarcastic?" He looked affronted. "You are, like, the _queen_ of sarcasm."

"Shutup!" She snapped as the door opened slightly.

"Goodness, you two should hear yourselves," A man let himself into the room and spoke in Italian. He was tall and muscular, his hair was thinning and the awkward way he pronounced the words lead Ziva to believe Italian was not his first language. "Bickering like an old married couple. Back in the day if I had woken up strapped to a wall with a coworker on the other side of me, I would have started to sing like canary." He smirked at Ziva, obviously aware that Tony had no idea what he was talking about.

"Who is that? What did he say?" Tony asked quickly, finally working up enough sense to be serious.

"He says you have the most beautiful eyes he has ever seen and he wishes to take you out to lunch sometime." Ziva said mostly as a barbed warning to Tony to shut up but also as a test, to see if the man understood English as well. 'Bickering like an old married couple' and 'sing like a canary' were both very English sayings. What would he stand to gain from excluding Tony from his words?

"Well, tell him I'm flattered, but really not looking to be in a relationship right now." Tony ignored her harshness and returned with that quick jibe.

The man gave Tony a surmising look and Ziva thought of something so blaringly simple she would have hit herself on the back of the head if she had had her hands. Obviously this man spoke English. He had understood that they had been bickering. Why hadn't she caught it when he had said it? The answer was simple. Tony. Distracting, distracting Tony.

"Do you speak any other languages?" She asked the man in Spanish. "My Italian is no good." She lied.

"Yes." He said in Spanish as well. "Many, but Italian is what I prefer, and since I know for fact," He slapped a folder with her picture on it down on the table in front of them. "that you speak it very well, we will continue in it, yes?"

"Yes." She nodded. What was going on here? Where did they get that file? This was all very confusing.

"Hey. I've got a plan," Tony said, yet again taking her mind off the task at hand. " Let's not talk to the creepy bald man and wait for Gibbs to discover that we're missing. Then we're as good as found."

"You do realize the 'creepy bald man' also speaks English." The creepy bald man said.


	2. Chapter 2

_Note from me (Hook) - *slaps self with keyboard* I made an oopsie. Tony speaks Italian… whoops. … let's just pretend we don't know that :D. Also, quick note- I have no idea what is going to happen. Sorry. No plans here. But I plan to finish with a flare of awesome! Yeah! (flare of awesome is an accurate description… maybe…) _

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Leroy Jethro Gibbs was not in a good mood. Though his general demeanor was cross, the fit he was in now rivaled any fit of rage he had ever felt.

Where the hell where DiNozzo and David?

"McGee!" He snapped and turned to Timothy McGee, who was sitting at his computer, frantically clacking away at the keyboard.

"I'm on it boss." He deadpanned despite the fact that he had no idea what Gibbs wanted him to do. Gibbs turned away from him and gazed at the television screen mounted about eye level with him. The continuous reel of Tony and Ziva sitting down to dinner. Waiter dropped by. Waiter was gone. Tony and Ziva chatted. Waiter came back. Waiter hands them drinks. Tony and Ziva drink drinks. Tony and Ziva go unconscious. The clip cut to fuzz; the rest of it had been erased.

It had been too late to find the glasses their drinks had been held in, they had already been cleansed by the time Abby had gotten to them, no clues. The rest of the restaurant had been empty, no witnesses. And the waiter's face never came into view, no suspects.

"Boss," McGee called his attention back.

"What?" He tried to keep his tone in check as he turned to the computer screen directly in front of McGee.

"I tried to find the GPS in Ziva and Tony's cell phones and came up with a complete zero. I assume, if they had the phones on them when they were abducted-"

"Abducted?" A withered voice with a faintly British accent asked from behind Gibbs' back. He turned on heel to see Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard standing in his normal uniform of suit and tie. "Jethro, if you truly believe they have been abducted, then you realize that they are in all likelihood-."

"I know," Gibbs cut him off and turned his back on the painful thought that they could be dead.

"Jethro," Ducky grabbed his attention again. "It's been three days."

Gibbs paused a beat, not really knowing how to respond. "I have to find them."

Ducky nodded slightly. "I suppose I would have to be mad if I attempted to persuade you otherwise."

"Did you want something?" Gibbs wondered why the old medical examiner was up on his floor.

"Merely an update on our friends. Please, do not hesitate to contact me if anything turns up." Ducky started to turn away. "Oh, and Jethro," He turned back slightly as if he had forgotten something.

"What."

"Get some rest, you look awful." Ducky walked away this time finally.

_Of course I look awful. _Gibbs thought. _I haven't slept for two days. _

"Boss," McGee turned his head sharply to Gibbs as if lightning had just struck his brain. "Doesn't Tony have two cell phones?" It was less of a question and more of a statement.

"Get on it, McGee." Gibbs started to walk away. "I want those results yesterday."

McGee knew better than to ask where he was going.

Tony understood that this was a moment to be taken seriously from the get go, but honestly, he woke up strapped to a wall next to a beautiful woman. Other than being extraordinarily confused, he didn't have much to complain about.

He whistled a little to himself as the creepy bald man babbled away in Italian and Ziva shot him a look that said that if he didn't realize how grave the situation actually was she was going to reach down his throat and make sure he lost the ability to procreate.

He coughed off his whistling and compressed his legs together. What could it hurt to pay a little bit more attention?

"Hey, nameless balding man," Tony interrupted said nameless balding man's edict and Ziva turned to him and shock, her eyes pleading for something, but he couldn't tell exactly what. "If you can speak English, why exactly am I being excluded from this little powwow?"

"Oh, I am sorry," The man turned to him directly for the first time. "I did not mean to take you as well when I snatched Special Agent David. I am sure you must think I am very rude." The man smirked slightly and something in the back of Tony's mind shifted. He knew that jackass smirk.

"R something," Tony squinted at the man. "Rrrrroy? No, that's not right. Hold on, it'll come to me in a minute."

"What are you talking about?" Ziva stared wide eyed at Tony. "Do you know this man?"

"Roman! That was it. Roman Chezick!" He laughed triumphantly. "Ziva, why do we have wanted posters? So people look at them."

"Hmm." Chezick put his hand to his chin. "You do not seem to understand what you have just gotten yourself into, do you?"

Ziva spat something in one of the many languages that Tony didn't understand and Chezick's attentions were captured.

"Hey, hey, hey," Tony made himself heard over Ziva's ramblings. "I wasn't finished with you. Actually I am quite curious now. What is a bomb maker doing capturing NCIS agents?"

Chezick smirked. "Making bombs, obviously." He turned away from them and Tony could feel Ziva's eyes glaring death into him. Chezick bent slightly and retrieved something that had been laying out of sight behind the table. He lifted it lightly and let it hit the table with a heavy _thud. _Tony felt the color drain from his face.

"Obviously." Was all he could make hid lips say. That was a rather large bomb. It was obviously a vest in design and the blocks of C-4 strapped to it were all connected with wires and detonators. Something was lined in between the slabs of explosives and all he could figure it might be was shrapnel.

Ziva hissed something in yet another language Tony didn't understand… or maybe it was the same one… he really couldn't tell the difference sometimes.

Chezick turned on her in anger and pulled his hand back as if to strike her.

"Stop!" Tony screamed. "If you want to talk to someone, talk to me. She doesn't even know you, she doesn't even know why we are here."

"Neither does he." Ziva spoke up, obviously irked by Tony's outburst.

"Well, I think I might be a little more qualified to handle these sorts of things than you. As ranking field officer, I demand that you keep your trap shut."

"That makes no sense. I have no trap. Besides, they have _my _folder. So, _hah!_"

"Honestly…" Chezick spoke and both of them blinked up at him, having slightly forgotten he was there. "How do you people get anything done?


	3. Chapter 3

_Note from me (Hook)/ story time - *hits head on the desk* I was in the library with my laptop (her name is Tamara) and I was trying to draft out some of the rest of the story, you know, formulate a plan. And I thought I would add a little Tiva. A little *naked* Tiva. I was writing all of this out in library and I started laughing so hysterically that this guy sitting across from me asks me what I'm writing. I proceed to giggle so hysterically and spastically I can't even delete the words before this guy looks over my shoulder to see what I'm writing about. I slammed Tamara shut a bolted like I was frikken Seabiscuit. So I am sad to inform you there will most likely be no sex scenes in this because I just can't do it. *hits head on desk multiple more times* faaaaaaiiiiiiillllll. Wow, this is long…. Anyways, BACK TO THE STORY WITH YOU :D!_

Gibbs stepped out of the elevator and noted the lack of blaring music. Although he was initially pleased that Abby was paying attention to the work at hand, he also knew that this meant that she was stressing herself. Very un-Abby like.

He saw her sitting at one of the microscopes in front of him, shoulders hunched and discarded CafPow's surrounded her.

He placed another tall plastic cup beside her and stood silently, waiting for her to notice him.

"Oh, Gibbs!" She jumped slightly when she looked up.

"Any news?" Gibbs tried to ignore the purple splotches underneath her eyes that stated that she had gotten about the same amount of sleep that he had.

"I think I might have found some traces of the tranquilizer used on Ziva and Tony."

"What is it?" He bent over to look down at the little to inspect the molecules Abby had been scrutinizing.

"I don't know. There wasn't enough to identify, so I just thought I would grow some more." She smiled and downed about half of the CafPow he had just given her.

"Grow?" Gibbs turned back to her and felt quite certain that if she didn't get sleep soon she was going to loose it completely.

"It's organic." Abby mused, spinning around in her chair to another set of materials, obviously constructed to water the little dishes placed out underneath them. "I'll have enough to test in about four hours."

"Abby," Gibbs started.

"I know what your going to say," She cut him off. "That in four hours Tony and Ziva might not be saveable, but I am not going to believe that. I am going to believe that in four hours Ziva and Tony will already be here, happy and safe. And don't you dare try and take that belief away from me." She stood as she declared.

Gibbs smiled a little to himself and gave Abby a kiss on the cheek. "I was going to say, get some sleep."

"Oh…" Abby sat back down. "Right…"

"Good work Abs," Gibbs smiled as he turned away and started to walk for the door. Unconsciously he reached for his phone seconds before it chirped at him. "Gibbs," He said as an introduction.

" Boss," McGee spluttered. "I got a hit on Tony's second cell. You're not going to like this."

"I rarely do."

The man, Chezick, had switch from speaking in Italian to a much more comfortable sounding Portuguese.

Ziva was mush better with Portuguese than she was with Italian and was happy for the change.

"You have yet to explain why either of us our here." Ziva said to Chezick. "You have already stated that you have interest in Tony and, based upon the fact that you have my file, I am assuming you want something from me specifically. Yes?"

"Yes. I want information. And you are going to tell me." Chezick said with finality.

"What did he say?" Tony asked, a small amount of panic in his voice, it didn't take a genius to recognize a threat in a different language.

"Nothing." She said quickly. He had to remain calm in order for her to remain calm. If he started yelling again she might break. That would not be convenient for either side of this dispute.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're lying to me?" Tony looked at her curiously.

"Because I am, now _shush. _I am trying to have a conversation here, Tony." She sniffed.

"Why _did _you lie to him?" Chezick asked in Portuguese. "Not that I actually care. Just morbid curiosity I suppose."

"Because," Ziva stuck her chin in the air and gritted her teeth. "You only want me. He doesn't need to know why."

"You are wrong about that." Chezick smirked and made himself heard in English. He turned away from her and Tony gave her a look, mostly confused, generally angry, and very questioning. "So very, very wrong."

Chezick walked across the room and firmly pressed on the edge of one of the panels in the wall. The panel responded by sliding away and revealing an assortment of terrifying looking devices.

Ziva felt Tony struggle ferociously against the restraints beside her, but she grew more still. Moments of action require planning. So Ziva held her breath... And planned.

Tony noticed that Ziva hadn't wilted the way he had when the bomb had come into view, and now again he noted that where the collection of cutlery came into view his response was emotional Ziva just got colder.

"No need to do anything stupid," Tony assured him. "I think we can all work this out? Really, horribly painful looking things aren't necessary…" Ziva kicked him while Chezick's back was still turned like a kid on a playground.

Wait… How the hell did she just kick him? Unless…

Tony looked down at Ziva's feet. Neither of them were chained down anymore.

"How?" He looked up at her; she kicked him again, but a bit more playfully this time and winked at him. What on earth could possibly be running through that crazy woman's head? Tony questioned if he actually wanted to know.

"You see," Chezick turned back around holding something in his hand that looked like it could be from a James Bond movie… one of the one's with Sean Connery… They had much cooler gadgets… and hotter women…

Tony mentally slapped himself a forced his thoughts to focus on the weapon in the scary bald man's hand, and not on Pussy Galore's ass.

"We may have captured Agent DiNozzo on accident," Chezick talked to Ziva but walked towards Tony. "But now that we have him," The device in his hand was raised eye level with Tony. "We plan to use him to our advantage. Tell me about your father."

Ziva paused, obviously unsure of her next actions.

"Tell me everything or I promise his eyes will go first." Chezick warned and cocked his arm back with the weapon in it.

"Fine!" Ziva cried out, a few stray tears melted down her face. The hell? That wasn't the Ziva he knew and feared. "I will tell you everything," She sobbed. "Just please, please, let him go."

"He only stays unharmed for information." Chezick grinned evilly and turned to Ziva, the weapon falling to his side with the dropping of his arm. His hand strayed to touch the slightly exposed part of her middrift. "He gets set free for a little more."

Tony gritted his teeth and felt his face turn red. If he knew how to ninja-slip the restraints, Chezick would be dead right now.

"Fine." Ziva shoulders sagged. "Please let him go."

"Very well," Chezick looked pleased with his life at the moment. The promise of information, and a little something more, made the grin on his face triple in size. He turned back to Tony and pulled a key out of one of the many pockets on his cargo pants. "I let him go now, but he will only go back to where he came from if you come through in case you change your mind. Yes?"

Ziva nodded her head. "Yes."

Chezick's grin reached another level of jackassery and he reached above Tony's head with the key in his hand. As far as tony could guess, there were two devices keeping his hands restrained. Some for of cuffs and another contraption keeping the cuffs firmly stuck to the wall. Chezick unlocked the one keeping him to the wall. The same with his feet.

Tony hit the ground with a thud and a grunt.

"Very well, my end is paid." Chezick stated. "Time for you to pay as well."

Tony was about to strike him, but Ziva beat him to the punch. Or, kick, rather. A really savage kick. Right between the legs. Ohh… ouch…

"One, you never start with the eyes. It's to close to the brain and you could potentially kill the victim if you make a mistake." Ziva avowed firmly. "Two," She added another kick for emphasis. "Always stay aware of your captives to make sure they do not attempt to escape. And three." She kicked him again, right across the face sending him into unconsciousness. "Never, _ever, _touch me." 

"Wow…" Tony stared at her.

"Do not just stand there," Ziva said impatiently. "Get the key."

"Key, right." Tony scrambled to collect the key with his cuffed hands, still slightly dazed. His fingers closed around the key and he stood to unlock the restraints on Ziva's hands. He had to stand right up against her to be able to reach the keyhole and he felt himself smile despite himself.

"You are a dead man, Anthony DiNozzo; if I ever see you smile like that again." Ziva warned.

"It would probably be worth it."


	4. Chapter 4

_(Hook)((me))(((there has to be some better way to introduce these things))) Quick question- Does anyone have any ideas for a cool company that might deal might like biotechnology or something? I need a name, I thought about BioTeck, but that's no fun, it needs to be cooler._

_Why? _

_Erm…. *mumbles incoherently* _

_BACK TO STORY! _

Timothy McGee nervously shuffled from foot to foot as he waited for Gibbs to magically appear out of thin air like he usually did. What was he going to tell him exactly?

The truth… and his plan.

Was he going to get severely beaten afterwards?

Most likely.

He exhaled a shaky breath and turned the printout in his hands another ninety degrees, just as he had been every couple of seconds for the past minute.

"This is a bad idea, McGee." He said to himself in a mock impersonation of Ziva's voice.

"I know, but I'm just about out of options." He responded.

"Come on, McGenius, you could probably think of something better than that lame excuse for a plan." An imitation of Tony fell from his mouth.

"Having a nice conversation, McGee?" Gibbs was standing right behind him. He didn't even have to look and he knew that Gibbs was standing right behind him.

"Uh… Sorry, Boss… I just… I think better when Tony and Ziva are around." McGee turned around to face his Boss.

"Right…" Gibbs gave him a Gibbs-y look and McGee felt his courage wilt a little. "You had something to tell me?" Gibbs reminded him a little harshly.

"Uh- Right, Boss. I found Tony's cell phone." He passed Gibbs the map in his hands. "We know from the outside footage of the parking lot, that the abductor loaded Tony and Ziva back into Ziva's car for transportation. I already searched for the GPS for Ziva's car, but came up blank. Tony's car is parked out front and the place on the map does not match that or his house," McGee paused to take a breath and allow a little time space for Gibbs to inject his opinion. Gibbs was silent, so McGee continued. "I think that Tony might have dropped his cell phone, or left it in Ziva's car." He paused to take another breath, and to finish off this story with the rest of his plan, but Gibbs spoke first.

"Good work, McGee. " He turned away and started calling out orders to people in his command. "You two, I want you armed and ready to move out-"

"Uhm… actually, Boss… I… erm… have a plan…" McGee spoke so probably only he could hear.

"What was that?" Gibbs turned back to him with a fraction of the interest he had awarded him earlier.

"I have a plan."He said firmly.

Gibbs gave him his full attention now. "What?"

"Well, I don't think your going to like it." McGee looked back down at the map Gibbs still had in his hands. He knew where that place was.

Gibbs rolled his eyes and tried to recall how many times he had heard that in the last two days.

Ziva worked quickly, invading all of Chezick's pockets and patting down his person, she pulled out a gun and a cell phone. "Here," She tossed the cell phone to Tony and put the gun in the waist band on her cargo pants.

Tony flipped open the cell phone and smirked to himself. "Idiot." He muttered.

"What?" Ziva asked, grabbing a few blades from the shelves and loading them on her person.

"The dunce labeled the way to detonate the bomb as 'Detonator.' I bet that's not suspicious at Airports." Tony said sarcastically and then looked up at Ziva. "Ziva, what are you doing?"

Ziva turned and glared at Tony. "Tony, you do realize that there is a very, _very, _small chance Chezick was working on his own." How could he be so clever with words and be able to recall so many useless facts about movies and not be able to think a situation like this all the way through?

"Right," Tony slapped himself on the back of the head and put the cell phone down next to the desk as he hurried next to Ziva and imitated her weapon choices.

Ziva's eyes were stuck on the cell phone… next to the vest… wired with explosives… which could be detonated by the cell phone… which was right there… on the table… next to the vest.. with the explosives…

"I have a plan." She leaped up and started strapping the vest to herself.

"Ziva, are you frikken insane?" Tony turned his head to stare at her with her mouth open. "That is a bomb!"

"Yes, Tony. A bomb," Ziva smirked. "I heard Chezick clear and loud."

"Loud and clear…"

"The point is," She handed Tony the gun. "Would you antagonize the woman with the bomb strapped to her chest, or the man with the detonator in his hand?" She planted the cell phone in his other hand.

"It really depends on the woman."

"Try to contact NCIS," She nodded to the cellular device as she pulled up her hair tighter. She used the silent moment to review. She had no idea where she was. No idea what she was going to do with her only slightly reality-based partner. No idea how she was going to get out of the place she had no idea where was.

She was so confused, even her thought were starting to jumble.

Tony looked to Ziva and saw that her brow was creased with discomfort, he would have said something, but just as he was about to hit _Send _ the phine went dead.

"Oh no," He breathed. "Just like a horror movie." He looked up and gasped. "And I'm slutty chick number one!"

"What happened?"

"The phone went dead." Tony tried to steady his heart beat. "Guess we don't have any more leverage."

Ziva smiled and Tony thought she looked almost cat like. "No body else has to know the phone is dead…"


	5. Chapter 5

_Hi, Me again.*smacks self with mouse* I realize I'm busting in a lot with pointless stories and…. Well… that's about it. I just wanted to real quick apologize for the last chapter. It was a little boring… and short. But I shall make up for it. What's this? Two Chapters? One day? Yes, yes it is. My most humble apologizes. (and also, I may be able to suppress my laughter long enough to get down to some nudey pants, so, keep the faith (This means you Gabi ;D )) _

_Now, back into my little world of… bad spelling… and… other things….Alright!_

Gibbs just stared at McGee. "And… That's the plan?"

"Yeah, Boss," McGee nodded. "Plain and simple."

Gibbs quickly scanned the area directly surrounding them, looking for something harder than his hand to hit McGee on the back of the head with.

"Wait, Boss," McGee took a step back in anticipation of the higher authority's next move. "Just take a second to think about it, it could work."

"McGee," Gibbs could hardly keep himself from screaming. "We don't even know if this is the right place! They could be kept locked up in a million places. They could be dead! We can't just bust into a place like that and-."

"Uhm… Gibbs?" Someone asked meekly from behind him. He took a deep breath before turning to Abby. "Sorry to disturb you… but, I … uh… I got the results early… and I don't think your going to like this."

Gibbs slammed his head down on the nearest desk. Obviously he wasn't going to like it. He had been told he wasn't going to like 'it' two times today, and both prediction had been correct.

"What is it, Abs?" He mumbled.

She told him.

He picked his head up slightly, and then slammed it back down.

"I was right about it being organic, but wrong when I assumed it was natural." Abby tried to ease his mind and was rewarded with the repetitive _crack _of Gibbs' forehead making contact with the wood. "Maybe you should get some sleep, Gibbs." She suggested.

Gibbs stood up straighter and turned to McGee. "Alright. We go with McGee's plan."

Gibbs brushed past McGee on his way to his desk and McGee did some sort of excited victory hop.

Abby punched him in the shoulder. Hard.

"Ow," McGee rubbed his arm. "What was that for?"

Tony took a moment to stare at Ziva with something in the middle of 'awe' and 'the woman who could very possibly take my life as well as save it is clinically insane'.

"Trust me, Tony. I'll make sure we both get out of here alive." Ziva purred as she finished strapping herself into the vest.

"With what? Empty threats?" Tony scoffed and held up the dead cell phone.

In a snap her hand had moved up to his face, each one of her nails digging a separate hole in his skin. "None of my threats are empty."

"That bomb should definitely not be wearing you, it could be dangerous." Tony muttered from underneath her palm.

She drew her hand back, obviously content with his words and shot him a soft smile that reeked of false confidence.

"Well, hell," Tony shrugged and stood up, facing the door. "I almost die every other day of my life, I suppose one day had to come where I missed the 'almost'."

"You should give motivational speeches." Ziva stood beside him. Tony didn't know if she was joking or being serious. To keep from looking stupid he kept his mouth shut.

"Are you ready?" Ziva asked.

"I was born ready." Tony quoted.

Ziva rolled her eyes.

Tony noticed that Ziva started to make the first move for the door, but he beat her too it. If there was any time for chivalry, Tony decided it definitely wasn't now. He pushed open the door and…

-_bum bah baaaaaah-_

_-scene change!-_

McGee straddled a pipe and had to duck underneath some sort of rat's nest to reach the little box under the building. The box had wires and breakers in it. Wires and breakers that controlled the entirety of the computer world in the building above him. And in the building above him he hoped that Ziva and Tony were being held in one of the rooms.

He wanted to access the data bank and files of that stupid building, but security was completely locked on everything inside of the building. Not that he was surprised. If they were genetically manipulating organic material to render a person unconscious for two days, who knew what else they were working on. He needed to connect directly with the source of the problem to have any hope of finding out where Ziva and Tony could be.

He knew that they couldn't just go up there and flash their badges, Ziva and Tony would be moved before they could ever have a hope at finding them. Or worse, their bodies could be disposed of.

McGee grimaced and pushed away those thought.

Just concentrate at the task at hand and everything would be alright.

"Hey McGoofy," McGee said to himself with Tony's voice. "Stop fooling around and just hack the damn network; really it can't be that hard. _You _do it."

"Stop, teasing him Tony, he's just trying to do a good job." He spoke to himself again, this time with Ziva's voice.

"Wow," This time he used his own voice. "I might actually be loosing my mind."

He opened the box and pulled a laptop out of the bag that hung around his shoulder. After a few moments of fumbling hands, clacking of keys, and tangling of wires, the two were connected.

"Gotcha." McGee smiled.

Here was the issue- people would pay for incredible outside security for the outside of their network, be it just one computer or an entire buildings worth. They wanted to keep people out Trusting in that, they would do very little to protect the things on the inside they didn't think were important.

Like floor plans.

He clicked the icon that appeared in the center of the screen. An eerie robotic voice cackled over the speakers.

"_Welcome to-"_

------

_(Hook) – Gah! I need a cool name for a company! _


	6. Chapter 6

_(Guess who? It's me! ... well, obviously it's me… nevermind...) Just wanted to tell you guys how much I love your reviews, they make me laugh :D I picked a name for the Company (sorry, not creepy bald man incorporated :c) I think it's pretty cool, in a destructive company that could possibly be plotting to take over the world kinda way, but who knows, you guys would probably think its lame. Ahvwhell, in each life a little ran must fall, which is a good theme for this chapter. Heheh. _

_Quick update. It is 2:28 in the morning and I have been on a Batman binge. Seriously, all of my comics, all of the movies… I think I'm gonna die from a Batman overdose. I just wanted to warn you… when I Batman overdose… Apparently so does Tony… _

"_GlobalGenes_." The robotic voice finished as the same name that had just been spoken appeared in logo form on the screen in front of him. The logo showed the globe being infected by some sort of virus that spelled out _G-l-o-b-a-l-G-e-n-e-s_.

McGee took a deep, calming breath and let his fingers stretch out across the keys in their comfortable fashion. His eyes flicked over the screen as he expertly maneuvered around the virtual world.

He found what he was looking for quickly with very little issue. He sent the file to a printer above ground and decided to review it with more efficiency when he was knee deep in some god forsaken slime.

He grimaced slightly and then went to shut down the laptop.

"The hell?" He gave the screen another once over before he closed, and something caught his eye.

"McGee?" Gibbs' voice floated down from the street above.

"Uh- Boss… You're not going to like this."

Tony looked around.

"Alright," He looked around the empty hallway. "I admit it- I'm confused."

Ziva scanned the same hallway with her assassin super powers and Tony found himself wishing he had super ninja powers.

Like Batman! The Christian Bale Batman, he had much better scenery and back story. Also, Liam Neeson as a villain. Where does that go wrong?

"Tony!" Ziva's voice broke through his thought. "Have you not heard anything I have said?"

"I'm sorry… I was thinking about Batman…"

"What?"

"He was originally a comic book character, but eventually the concept was redone in movie format with varying degrees of success-." He started to explain.

"Never mind," Ziva turned away from him. "I did not actually care that much."

Tony pouted his lips slightly behind her back. For some reason her sharp comments had actually stung slightly this time.

"Come on," He ushered her forward to another door, which he also opened and found a very similar situation. Nothing. No people. No signs of people. No hints that people might have ever even been through this room.

"This makes no sense." Ziva turned around in a tight, clumsy circle in the center of the room. "Where is… anyone?"

"Out to lunch?" Tony suggested and watched Ziva's brow crease with fury. She turned around once more a started to walk resolutely back into the stainless steel room. "Wait, Ziva! What are you doing?" He chased after her retreating figure.

Ziva was fueled by a fury that she always felt coursing through her veins. She didn't know exactly where it originated, but she knew that, without it she wouldn't have been able to survive in this world so long.

Gibbs ran on coffee.

Abby ran on CafPow.

Tony ran on Movies.

McGee ran on computers.

She ran on rage.

Just the way it worked.

With seemingly phenomenal strength she squarely gripped a fist full of Chezick's shirt and hoisted him off the ground where he had fallen. The thunderous metallic clang his body made when she threw it against the wall drowned out Tony's cries of protest.

Tony noticed Chezick's eyes flutter open slightly and quickly widen in fear as he noticed the terribly raged Israeli woman keeping him a few inches from contact with the earth with nothing but her chained hands, wearing a vest bomb.

He couldn't help but smirk. Ziva was short. Ziva was thin. Ziva was attractive. None of those things added up when you thought about the horrible things she could do to you without breaking a sweat.

"Now it's your turn to talk." Ziva's voice was pure honey and she physically calmed herself, resuming the more familiar role of antagonist. "Where are we?"

"I do not know." Chezick hissed.

Ziva dropped him to the ground, spun him before he could react and bent his arm behind his back. "This does not have to be unpleasant." She mused, nuzzling him slightly.

Tony had always wondered why she did that. When she was causing pain, she kissed a cuddled with the victim.

He smirked.

He kind of wished _he _could be a victim. … And Batman.

He physically slapped himself this time.

"What was that for?" Ziva was distracted momentarily.

"Batman…"

She paused for a moment. "…Right…"

"Look," Chezick spluttered, wincing in pain as Ziva returned her attentions to him. "I can tell you nothing, because I know nothing."

"That can not possibly be true," Ziva laughed smoothly. "Everyone knows something." Her voice grew more menacing. "It all depends on if it has use to me."

"I have a question." Tony raised his hand.

Ziva sighed roughly and then turned back to him. He was just being a distraction again. "Yes, Tony?"

"Does he have a key for these?" He pulled at his hand cuffs to show what he meant.

"Do you?" Ziva again had turn her attentions back to Chezick tiredly.

"Behind the table, third drawer to the top." Chezick grunted.

She heard Tony fumbling about in the back round and rolled her eyes.

"Got it!" He called out.

"Good." She mumbled. "Now," She pressed firmly of Chezick's arm as he writhed in pain underneath her. "Are you sure you don't have anything important to tell me?"

"Us," Tony corrected he irritably from somewhere behind her.

She ground her teeth together and then restated. "Do you have anything to tell _us?"_ She nearly hissed.

"No." Chezick tried to wrench himself out of Ziva's grip but she stayed strong. "As I told you, I know nothing."

"Well, then." Ziva pressed something to the pack of his head and Chezick broke out into a cold sweat. "Since you are of no more use to us…" Chezick heard the click of a gun being cocked.

"Ziva," Tony attempted to keep his voice even. "You don't want to do that."

"Why not?" The object was pressed hard to the back of Chezick's head. "It could be fun. And it is not as if _I _have to clean up the mess."

"Alright! Alright!" Chezick screamed, desperately fighting against Ziva. "All I know is, someone hired me to kidnap you."

"Who?" The object was pressed even harder against the base of his skull.

"I don't know!" He screamed.

"Ziva," Tony's voice held warning.

"Is there anything else?" Ziva's teeth clicked at the end of her words.

"No!" Chezick began to cry. "Please don't kill me!"

Ziva chuckled mirthlessly and he felt the pressure at the back of his head leave. She held his cell phone in front of his face.

"Bang."

She slammed his face forward into the wall and he was rendered unconscious once again.

Tony pouted slightly in his corner, rubbing his slightly red, but free wrists. Did he ever get to be the bad cop?

He sighed. Probably not.

"Tony," Ziva turned back to him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…" He sighed, tossing her the key to the hand cuffs.

"Batman?"

He smirked. "Yeah…"

----

_Yeesh, so much Batman. *punches self with 'x' key* Sorry! Won't happen again (maybe… probably not) I just wanted to clarify real fast that the vest… the one with the bomb on it… it straps on like a bullet proof vest, so she could put it on with cuffs on. Just wanted to make clear, because I got confused when I was writing it, so I was pretty sure, one might be confused while reading it :D Woo, long chapter. I'm tired. Now 3:04 in the morning. Bed time?_


	7. Chapter 7

_What's this? A serious chapter? THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE BATMAN?!?!?! Madness? No…. THIS! IS! My fanfic… I'm definitely thinking I need a little bit more sleep. *slaps self to keep one awake*(I'm in an abusive relationship with myself :c) Well, this is bad. If I am slowly fading into madness, who the hell is going to finish the story?_

_Ponder this, my dears, as I send you off into CHAPTER 7! *buh bah bah bah bum bada bah bah baaaaah!*_

Gibbs sat back roughly in his chair and cringed at yet another usage of that gad awful phrase 'you're not going to like it.' If that phrase were alive, he would have shot it. And then shot it again, just for good measure.

"McGee," Gibbs growled under his breath. "For your sake, I better _hate _this news."

"I have no doubt about that one, sir." McGee pulled himself out of the gutter in a concrete jungle. This was D.C. Everything was covered with drugs, art, or homeless people. Sometimes all three.

The building surrounding them loomed above at a seemingly impossible height. Business people, stuffed into suits and chained to cell phones, walked the short distance to their office buildings. Raggedy teens stalked around, trying to look suspicious for the attention. Sirens and car horn blared in the background. The smell of hot asphalt drifted from the ground.

This was D.C. Gibbs took a deep breath of muggy, city air. He loved it. He had tried to live the easy life, but hell, the turmoil kept dragging him back in.

"Boss?" McGee Stood fully and cleared his throat, snatching Gibbs out of his thoughts.

"What is it, McGee?" He snapped.

"GlobalGenes has a new automated virus that they were about to put on the market, but-"

"Automated virus?" Gibbs cut in.

"It's an illness that they control. They sell viruses as a sort of pest control, they can change dietary habits, reduce hormones so the population decreases, or simply just kill off whatever your having a problem with." McGee explained and then continued. "It was pulled from the market because it could potentially turn into a human epidemic."

"So what's the issue?" Gibbs was already testy, and this was doing nothing to subdue the urge to pull out his gun and start shooting.

"Check it out." McGee turned the Laptop screen towards him.

"I don't understand." The heat of anger inside of Gibbs fizzled out. He understood… but he didn't get it. What?

"I'll explain later." McGee sighed. "I got the floor plans; let's go find Tony and Ziva."

Gibbs rolled his eyes and pulled his hat back on. Before he and McGee started for the main entrance of the GlobalGenes, Gibbs caught his reflection in the window of one of the buildings. He smiled and looked at his hat.

_NCIS. _

Tony looked down at an unconscious Chezick and felt… something. It wasn't sympathy… it wasn't hate… it was closer to remorse. If Chezick hadn't interfered with his life he could be in his office right now. Sitting at his desk in the bull pen. Checking out Ziva's ass when he thought she wasn't looking. Making jokes about McGee's lack of a social life. Getting smacked on the back of the head by Gibbs. He missed it.

"Come on." Tony took Ziva by the elbow and started to lead her out the door. "Let's get out of this hell hole."

"Why would he ask about my father?" Ziva wondered out loud.

"I don't know." Tony admitted. "Priority one right now is to 'get safe'. Priority two is 'get Gibbs.' Priority _three _is 'get answers.'" He explained.

Ziva nodded blankly, but secretly smiled. It was very Tony-like. To take over a situation that he had no idea what was going on in, and still make it sound like he had all the answers.

They walked down the empty hallway, through the empty room, and paused momentarily at the last door.

"Do you think there are any monsters on the other side of that door?" Tony teased.

"That would be highly improbable." Ziva commented.

Tony rolled his eyes and pulled open the door. The outside world lay before them.

"Alright…" Tony said. "I'll admit it again… I'm confused."

_-_

The doors yielded to Gibbs and swung open under his strength.

"Sir," Security started to scamper after him. "Sir! You are not allowed past this point without being cleared.

Gibbs turned slightly to the man chasing him and noticed McGee going through a metal detector some forty yards away.

"I'll make this easier for you." Gibbs turned his determined blue eyes back to the man. "I have a gun on my right hip. Hand cuffs in my back pocket. And a badge," He flipped open his badge. "Right here." He forgot to mention the lack of a warrant… whoops.

The man backed off. Gibbs looked down at the floor plan and barely waited for McGee to catch up before he set off to find the three highlighted rooms. The most likely places where captives could be kept.

Room one- empty.

Room two- boxes.

Room three- …nothing.

-

It was so _green _outside. Ziva was completely disoriented. She goes unconscious in a restaurant in Virginia, and now it looked like she was in the middle of the jungle.

To be more accurate. It was a forest. Jungles had more vegetation… and things that could eat you.

She shuddered and instinctively moved closer to Tony.

She didn't catch him grinning.

-

"McGee…" Gibbs' voice growled out of the caverns of his chest.

"Those are the only place they could be hidden, Boss." McGee grabbed the floor plan in a panic and started looking it back over.

"Excuse me, sir!" Gibbs turned to find a man in an extraordinarily expensive suit and a surgical mask storming his way, surrounded by an entourage of people who were wary to keep their distance.

"Yes?" Gibbs monotoned. He felt McGee retreat a step behind him. The man was wearing a pair of rubber gloves drenched in blood.

"I am Scott Anderson, owner and creator of GlobalGenes." Anderson stripped the gloves off, but made no offer of a hand shake. "I was pulled out of a dissection because my security informed me that two federal agents were snooping around my building." Anderson was tall, grey hair, and chilled green eyes. He had an air about him that said he could kick your ass simply because he felt like it.

"Dissection of what, exactly?" McGee clutched his stomach.

"A rabbit," Anderson turned slightly to McGee. "We had to test and see if the fertilizer we put in a variety of plants was poisonous." His eyes remained stony as he turned to one of the men accompanying him. "Walsh, go finish the dissection."

"On it, Boss." Walsh started to scamper away.

"Oh, and Walsh." Anderson added without turning to Walsh

"Yes, Boss?"

"Don't mess up."

Gibbs smirked. He kind of liked this guy.

"I'm sorry," Anderson turned back to them and folded his clean hands across his chest in a business like manner. "What is it I can help you with?"

"We are looking for two of our agents." McGee spoke up before Gibbs could.

"You lost them?" Anderson cocked an eyebrow.

"There were abducted." Gibbs spoke this time, his voice far more level than McGee's. "The substance used to render them unconscious was one of your projects. A genetically altered plant."

"Hmm…" Anderson pressed the balls of his fingers together in thought. "How long has it been exactly since they went missing?" He asked.

"Classified."

"Well, that's important to know." Anderson said. "We only have two genetically constructed organic materials that can lead to unconsciousness. One has no side effects, but the other hasn't been perfected."

"What could happen with that?" Gibbs asked out of curiosity.

"All of our test subjects experienced obvious abdominal distress followed by intense fever and in about half the cases, death." Anderson's eyes sparked with hard truth. "We have only had one of these materials go missing from our labs in the last few days…"


	8. Chapter 8

_Hot damn, my head hurts – reason I didn't update yesterday - slipped and hit my head… in the shower. :{( Anyway – I'm back, got a good night's sleep, and ate a decent meal for the first time this month. _

_Hope you like this chapter- my views seem to be dwindling at an alarming rate, *sniff sniff* Ah well, the show must go on! _

Gibbs felt the blood drain from his face. He was afraid to ask, but he had too. "Which one?" He gritted his teeth and prepared for whatever news might come.

Anderson opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the sharp repetitive _click _of a pair of stiletto heels making sharp contact with the tile floor at a speedy rate.

"Mr. Anderson!" A red head in a black suit called out, only half way across the room, but gaining quickly. "Mr. Anderson!" She closed the gap between them.

"What is it, Jean?" Anderson reached out to comfort the panting woman, but wore a slightly dismissive look. Gibbs concluded that she was the secretary.

"The FBI…" She gasped. "I called them earlier… I didn't know who these men were… Explained to them the situation…"

All other things fled his thoughts, mostly for the lack of room between the acronym and assorted curse words.

As if on cue, five men wearing annoying blue jackets with the letters _FBI _stapled on yellow in the back.

Gibbs ran a frustrated hand through his hair and McGee took this as a perfect opportunity to have a horrible urge to find a bathroom.

"Sir." The man in front asserted himself in the usual FBI flaunt of power.

"Yes?" Gibbs drawled.

"I am under orders to ask exactly who you are." The man asked. Gibbs was disappointed in him. He stood with his feet together and arms at his side, no power to him at all except for the stuff that radiated from the badge. He leaned back slightly on his heels, grouping him back with the four gentlemen behind him, no self confidence. His eyes flicked up and down Gibbs, looking for some sort of weakness he could extort, no sense of style. In other words- the FBI lackey. Of course he took orders. Everyone took orders.

Except for Gibbs.

"I am Special Agent Jethro Gibbs," He stood right up to the man and glared directly at him with his steely eyes. "And, if you don't know exactly what that means, you haven't been around long enough to earn that badge."

The man visibly gulped and took a step back as Gibbs' eyes remained unwavering. "I'll… I'll go get my supervisor…" He stuttered as he stumbled over his own feet running away.

"Nicely handled." Anderson complimented from behind him.

Gibbs smirked and noticed that McGee had magically reappeared.

"McGee," Gibbs started.

"Yes, boss?" McGee asked tentatively, unsure on whether the older man was going to order a hit on an FBI agent, and equally unsure if he would obey or not.

"Find me that cell phone." Gibbs turned back to the front door as another man walked in; this one reeked of authority, ever aware of McGee slinking away around a corner.

"Agent Gibbs." The new man greeted coldly and Gibbs vaguely recognized him as Jim Wells, FBI agent extrodinare. "Why was the FBI not informed of the abduction of two of your agents?" Wells got straight to business, a rare thing to be seen in most FBI agents these days.

"It was on a need to know basis." Gibbs feed him the bull crap line he always got. "And you didn't need to know."

-

Tony looked up at the sky as the blackness of it finally caught his eye.

"Looks like it's going to be a hell of a storm." He commented as he and Ziva continued their trek through the woods.

Ziva looked up at the swirls of darkness and shivered. He had noticed that she been uncomfortable with storms… and nature in general. She could get out in it. She could trek through it. But he knew that she didn't like the fact that everything out here was uncontrollable. Nothing worked by a plan.

That was his favorite part.

Again, unconsciously, Ziva started drifting closer towards Tony as they walked. He smiled.

"Do you even know where we are going, Tony?" Ziva snapped, noticing he wasn't paying attention.

"To know where we are going, I would have to have known where the hell we were in the first place. So, no, I have no _idea _where we are going." Tony admitted with a chuckle and a shrug.

"Fix it." Ziva demanded, moving even closer to Tony and trying to stare down some thorny bushes.

"Fix what?" He asked, unwilling to move in case Ziva realized exactly how close she was and tried to remedy it.

"_This." _She spread apart her arms in an open gesture and he didn't know if she was talking about the outdoors, the fact that she had had to ditch the bomb vest next to a nest of baby birds, or the simple truth that neither of them thought that they were ever going to see civilized people ever again. He assumed all three- emphasis on the baby birds.

He laughed lightly and looped his arm around her shoulders in a protective gesture.

She stuck her tongue out at him, but leaned into the embrace none the less.

He felt words bubble up in his throat- words that he desperately wanted to say. He took a preparatory breath and opened his mouth-

"Look!" Ziva pointed to something far in the distance that radiated light. She sighed with such a substantial amount of relief that the hair in front of her eyes floated slightly away from her face. The moment they both took off at a run for the dim light, a bolt of lightning struck in the background, and it began to pour.

Tony ignored the slight pang of pain he got in his stomach as he turned the run into a race against Ziva and the rain

-

_Yes, short chapter, I realize, but I couldn't think of a better way to end it then that :3 I feel evil… (to be screamed like Mermaid Man does in SpongeBob- EVVVVVVIIIELLLLLL!) _


	9. Chapter 9

It was a motel.

Ziva stood out front of the short building and felt like a drowned cat. Rain cascaded down from the heavens and penetrated her clothing. She wrapped her arms around herself and gave Tony a significant look.

"I am not going in first." She stated.

"Wha-?" Tony turned to her. "Why not?"

"It looks sceevy." She said with a grimace.

"I'm pretty sure 'sceevy' isn't a word."

"Yet, very accurate." She looked back up at the ghostly light of the _Sundance Motel. _And _sceevy, _was indeed an accurate description. The place smelled of tobacco and disappointment. The stucco walls on the outer walls were caked with dirt. The road that it sat on seemed to stretch on endlessly into the rain and fog.

"At the very least they have a phone we can use." Tony commented.

Lightning struck. The lights in the motel went out.

"Damn it."

"Cell phones, maybe?" Ziva suggested as they both took a step forward in unison.

"So they can call Jason in case they need any help disemboweling people who try to check in? I doubt it." Tony said drily. Ziva didn't know who this 'Jason' was, so she assumed it was another one of Tony's movies and only smirked to herself as a response.

He pushed open the door and held it open for her. Ziva walked in smoothly, but didn't let her relief of finding a warm dry place stop her eyes from analyzing the room. Hideous yellow carpet. Brown desk. Insanely old woman behind said desk with a cigarette dangling from the right side of her mouth. Eight meters long by six meters wide. Couch. Two chairs. All of them upholstered with some ugly floral pattern. Water cooler. Six lamps. None of them were on.

Apparently this place had been looking forward to some sort of rush that was overdue by about twenty years.

"Ew." Was all Tony said as he stepped in behind her.

"Can I help yah?" The woman behind the desk asked with an unusual country accent and a horrific smoker's voice.

"Yeah," Tony stepped forward and slapped on his DiNozzo smile. "We were just wondering if you could tell us exactly where we are." He leaned lightly against the desk and motioned to Ziva. "You see, the wife and I were just going up to a ritual goat slaughter and our car broke down a few miles back." He supplied a fabricated story smoothly, not wanting this woman to know they had just escaped captivity from a bomb maker who had had a hide out in the middle of the woods and had gone to incredible lengths to procure them.

That just sounded crazy.

The woman stared at him.

"That was a joke." He explained.

"We don' have a phone here." The woman ignored his attempts at humor. "An' even if we did, it wouldn' do yah no good." She indicated the lack of power. "We ain't got a tow. We ain't got a hot tub. An' we ain't gonna take checks." She stated promptly and crossed her arms.

"Alright then." Tony turned back to Ziva and they had a short conversation with their eyes.

"Two rooms, please." Ziva stepped forward finally and gave the woman her sweetest smile.

"No can do, hon'." The woman took a drag on her cigarette and gave Ziva a glaring once-over, probably questioning why a husband and wife would want two separate rooms. "Those nice young men rented out almost every room in the place." A small smile lingered on her wrinkled lips as she thought of 'those nice young men.' "Only got one room left." She stated and slapped down a registry down in front of them. "Money up front."

Ziva stifled a groan.

Tony had retreated to one of the chairs in the front of the dark room, so Ziva leaned over the pad and picked up the pen with her numb fingers. Out of habit, she scanned the names of the people who had checked in before them.

_Wade Wilson._

_Remy LaBeau._

_Scott Summers. _

That was weird. Ziva stared at the names for a long moment. All of those names sounded oddly familiar. But she couldn't place them.

She shrugged it off and made up two names to write down. She sloshed around her pockets and came up with a few dollars that looked like exponentially more because of the soggy heap they were in.

It made a sick _squish _as the blob was plopped down on the desk.

"Up front." Ziva smiled and held out her hand for the key.

The woman gave it to her, unwilling to take her eyes of the amorphous mass on the desk, probably for fear it would move.

"Come on, Tony." She turned back to him and noticed that he was very pale in the corner. "Are you alright?" She looked concerned for him.

"Yeah." Tony smiled at her and she wondered if she had imagined the look on his face. He held out his hand and she tossed the key to him. "Sweet," He commented. "One room."

He smiled to add to the bravado, but really, that smile was the only thing keeping him from crying out in pain as another unfriendly stab of pain radiated from his stomach.

-

McGee could hear Gibbs and Wells 'discussing' things from inside. Emphasis on the 'cussing'.

He cringed slightly and felt deeply ashamed.

If Tony and Ziva weren't here…

Where were they?

McGee pushed away those thoughts and concentrated on the small screen in front of him. The blip was Tony's cell phone. The blip was not very accurate.

The blip was an approximation.

The blip was fading. Quickly.

McGee turned a corner in accordance with the map's instruction and found himself in a parking lot.

The blip was somewhere directly in front of him. The cell phone was right under his nose.

Scanning the ground he walked around the parking lot.

His phone chirped out for attention from his own pocket and he picked it up deftly as his eyes kept groping the pavement.

"McGee." He introduced himself, not having looked at the caller ID before answering.

"McGee!" Abby's voice rang through the speaker. "What's wrong with Gibbs? Why isn't he answering his cell phone?"

"Abby," McGee sighed. "Gibbs is fine. He's just in a shouting match with the FBI. Nothing new."

"Well, _I _have something new. And I don't think Gibbs is going to like it." Abby said at the exact moment McGee saw a familiar cell phone sitting on the pavement a few feet away from him. No sign of Ziva's car.

"Me too." McGee said.

-

_No, the X-men are not here. Just thought I should clear that up. NO X-MEN! _


	10. Chapter 10

_What time is it? Oh, I'll give you a hint…. It's nudey time. Ohhh yesss. Listen hard- you can probably still hear the ring of my spastic laughter when I was writing this. _

Gibbs glared directly down into Wells soulless eyes. Wells glared right back.

"Gentlemen," Anderson cut in, smiling a cold business smile. Gibbs analyzed Anderson for a moment and decided that he needed a smile like that. All at once it said 'calm down, this situation can be controlled' _and '_shut the hell up, I'm in charge'. "Please, if we are to continue this conversation at such high levels, I suggest we move it to my office."

"Look, buddy." Wells turned to Anderson. "If anyone is giving orders around here, it sure as hell ain't you."

If Anderson was as pissed off by that comment as Gibbs was, he wasn't showing any sign of it. His business exterior remained flawless. "Agent Wells, was it?" Anderson smiled. "I'd like you to know that the NCIS has GlobalGenes full cooperation in this matter…" He paused and his eyes got colder. "It is yet to be determined if the FBI will have the same luxury."

Wells was stunned into silence.

"Now, Agent Gibbs, I'll have Jean bring you all the files on the tranquilizers and any security tapes you might find useful."

Gibbs smiled as he felt himself being ushered forward by Anderson and magically found a cup of black coffee in his hand, courtesy of Jean, as she scampered away to retrieve files, leaving Wells and the other FBI agents standing there with mouths agape.

"Thanks." Gibbs smiled, pleased that a private citizen had just snuffed one of the highest ranking FBI officers in Virginia. They only sent the ones that were paid six figures to deal with Gibbs.

"Boss!" A flushed McGee called as he ran towards him. Gibbs noticed with a feeling of success the cell phone in McGee's hand. "Bad news," McGee handed him the Tony's phone, and then his cell phone with Abby on the other line. "I don't think your going to like this."

The coffee cup literally exploded in his hand as he clenched his fist.

-

Tony pulled his soaked shirt over his head and let it flop down on the floor with the other ninety-five percent of his clothes. Good thing he decided the wear underwear today, they were the only thing that was even mildly dry.

He grunted lightly as he stood up from his sitting position on and looked around the room. It was dark, and it was frigid.

Tony jumped from foot to foot in an attempt to get warm, but only really found any sense of success in the fact that his stomach didn't hurt so bad any more.

"Tony," Tony nearly jumped out of his skin as Ziva walked in behind him from the bathroom. "Here, I brought you a towel to dry off. " She handed him a rough white towel with the motel's cheesy insigmia printed on it.

"Thanks." He ran the towel trough his hair to disguise the fact that he was ogling. Big time. Ziva was wearing a towel… only a towel. She had laid her clothes out neatly on top of the heater, maybe in hopes that the power would come back on in the middle of the night.

Tony wrapped the towel around his waist and sat down on the floor next to the bed. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Yeah, sure, he had thought about being in this intimate of an environment with Ziva before, but he had seriously hoped it would have been under slightly better conditions.

Ziva watched the back of Tony's head from sitting on the other side of the bed. She could see the shine of wetness in his hair and the glare from water droplets on his bare shoulders in the moonlight. For some reason, her fingers felt an ache to run through that hair, to be felt on those shoulders.

She slapped her fingers and silently scolded them.

The chill of the room creeped under her skin and she had to clamp her jaw shut to keep her teeth from chattering. It was absolutely freezing in there. She looked back over at Tony and noticed a shiver rock his shoulders as well and she got a wicked idea… a really dumb… _really_ wicked idea… It was all the damn fingers' fault.

"Scoot over." Ziva stood Tony and he stared at her with confusion for a moment before realizing that she wanted to sit down beside him.

"Right." He did as she said and watched with dismay as his words turned to fog.

"I figured it would be warmer if we sat together." Ziva admitted as she pressed her body up against Tony's. Her skin was cool to the touch, but a lingering hold revealed the heat that was directly underneath the surface. Tony smirked and looped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

"You know, it would also, definitely be warmer under all of those sheets and blankets." Tony made his voice rough with suggestion, fully expecting to be rebuffed.

"Goodness, how do you suggest we stay warm once under the sheets?" Ziva made her eyes wide with mock confusion, but Tony detected some spark of mischief.

"I'm sure I could think of something." Tony waggled his eyebrows, honestly surprised that Ziva had let him take the joke this far.

"Well," She sighed before breaking into a smile. "If I must." She stood and Tony felt his mouth drop at the same time as her towel dropped. Was it possible? Had he actually said the right thing at the right time this time?

"Coming?" Her voice was coy and seemed to come from a world far away that probably had no idea what logic was. His eyes ran up and down her body several times before he could answer.

"Hell yes!" He practically dove under the covers. His towel floated to the floor lightly behind him.

_All right, maybe not "nudey time" but there was definitely nudey! Just not nudey I could write while keeping my sanity (or what little bits of it I have left) My face is on FIRE! Am I a disappointment? *tears* I am, aren't I? _


	11. Chapter 11

_Let's label this chapter the- 'Extraordinarily Long Chapter Where Shit Starts Making Sense.' :D, I like that title._

"I was looking at the security tape for the restaurant, and I accidentally fell asleep. I mean, it isn't that weird, people fall asleep all the time, where would the world be without sleep? Everyone would need CafPow, all the time. Speaking of which, I could use a CafPow."

"Abs-." Gibbs tried to interrupt her stream of incoherent babble.

"Anyway," She continued, probably not hearing him or just effectively ignoring him. "I fell asleep, and the tape was still running. And then I woke up, because, obviously when someone goes to sleep they have to wake up eventually… unless they're dead… What if I'm dead and this is hell?"

"Abby!" He could almost see Abby jump, suddenly realizing that there was a phone in her hand.

"Oh- hey, Gibbs!" There was a slight slur to her speech. Gibbs looked out the window and noticed the sun was setting. That was three days for Abby without sleep. That wasn't really something Abby could do, two and a half days was her limit, and then her mind started shutting down.

Anderson bit his lip from where he stood next to Gibbs to keep from laughing. Anderson was far enough away that he wouldn't have been able to hear a normal conversation, but a conversation with Abby was hardly normal.

"Abby-." He started to speak again.

"No- shush! I'm not done yet." Abby declared and immediately launched back into another tirade, and Gibbs could only stand there, smile, and inspect the coffee stains he had just made. "Okay, so I woke up, and I noticed the tape was still playing, but at this point it was just the static at the end, so I sat there and stared at it for a couple minutes, trying to see if I could find circus animals- and I didn't!"

"So let me get this straight? You called me to tell me you couldn't find circus animals?" Gibbs had to put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing or screaming, he couldn't decide which yet.

"Yes! Wait, No… I called to tell you instead of circus animals, I found three seconds."

Gibbs slid his hand over his face, trying harder than usual to keep his patience with Abby, but also finding it harder than usual to understand what she was saying. "Three seconds of what, Abby?"

"Life!"

He stood back and stared at the phone. Just stared.

"Gibbs!" He heard Abby's voice call out. "Didn't you hear me? I found three seconds of LIFE!"

Gibbs looked around the room to see if the rest of the world made any sense. For the most part it did. McGee and Anderson were in near hysterics from listening to the conversation, but that was about it. Gibbs hazarded putting the phone back up to his ear.

"And in those three seconds, I found three people, and with those three people, I found three names. Hmm… did I just sound a little bit like Dr. Seuss? What rhymes with names?"

"Wait- Abby, what do you mean you found three men?" Gibbs tried to throw her some line of logic she could follow.

"The three seconds, Gibbs! Three second that the person who erased it skipped over. They must have been a really bad eraser. Hah! No working for pencils for them."

"Abby, focus. Who were the three men?"

"I got the names right here!" Abby slurred again and he could hear papers being shuffled. "Erm… One Robert Newt. One Roman Chezick. And one Joseph Lawwllllrrrrrzzqmeh….. I don't know… It has a lot of z's and confusing letters."

"Do we know where they are?"

"I'm running everything we have on them now."

"Were Tony and Ziva in the three seconds as well?" Gibbs asked.

"No, but it sure would be a big coincidence." Abby bubbled from the other side of the phone.

"I don't believe in coincidences."

"I feel like I've heard that before… woah… déjà vu." Abby prattled.

"Abby… get some sleep." Gibbs said before disconnecting.

"And who was that charming young girl?" Anderson asked; the slight smile still on his face.

"That," Gibbs took a breath. "Was our forensic scientist, who seems to be down for the count." He shook his head. "McGee! We have to leave. This is going to be a hell of a lot harder without Abby." Gibbs turned to leave.

"Agent Gibbs," Anderson called out from behind him. Gibbs turned back on his heel, slightly annoyed but more than willing to give this man some more of his time. "It may be surprising to discover that the man who founded the largest producer of modified genetic and technological products has some skills with forensics, but if you need another pair of hands-." Anderson offered with a business-like quality. Gibbs looked the man over again and drew the conclusion again that he kind of like the man.

"What's the catch?" Gibbs said, ever suspicious.

"That I get to say this-" Anderson said, before clearing his throat and saying very loudly: "Yes, Agent Gibbs, you will have my company's full cooperation and any resources we have at your disposal."

There was some sort of crash as the sound of Wells breaking something traveled quickly over the tile floors. "I really dislike that man." Anderson muttered, glaring in Wells' general direction.

Gibbs smiled. "Deal."

-

Ziva woke up happy and warm. She just wished her stomach would stop hurting so much. She shrugged and scooted a little closer to a sleeping Tony. He mumbled something incoherently, smiled lightly, and moved his arm around her.

She smiled. It had started out as a really bad day, but had actually ended very well.

She rested her head on his chest and despite the horrible stomach ache, quickly found sleep again.

-

McGee was surprised by the fact that Anderson came with them. Anderson initially reminded him a lot of Gibbs, but he didn't quite trust him yet. But, seeing as how Abby was practically useless and very nearly in a coma by the time they reached the office again, McGee agreed with the decision. Not that he would have ever told Gibbs if he hadn't.

"Boss," McGee waited for instructions.

"McGee," Gibbs tossed him Tony's cell phone. "Do whatever it is you do and find me anything off of that you can." Gibbs turned back to Anderson, whom he had had to sneak into Abby's office and watched as the man immediately set out clacking away at keyboards, positively identifying the tranquilizer, and finishing the search that Abby had started.

Gibbs turned back to McGee, who seemed to be having trouble getting Tony's cell phone open.

"Gibbs," Anderson called him over, using his last name just as Gibbs had instructed him too. If anyone came down here and heard Anderson calling him 'Agent Gibbs' there would be hell to pay. "The results for the search and the three men are all wanted in a minimum of four countries. Last know addresses are all in Austria. Bomb maker, thief, and kidnapper."

"Phone numbers?" Gibbs asked.

"Got them, ran them, only one came up. Roman Chezick's. The idiot kept the same cell phone for two years as a wanted felon." Anderson passed Gibbs a paper. "The phone is off now, but I called something in and got the movements of the phone before it went down."

"How?" Gibbs looked down at the highlighted orange map that led all the way to North Carolina.

"Business associate of mine owns the technology… and the satellite." Anderson kept on moving. "And, I reviewed the security tapes for the parking lot and everything cuts off after this point." He showed him the footage and as soon as a red mini cooper pulled up it cut to snow. "Now, the question is-."

"Why would they come back?"

"Correct." Anderson nodded, letting the fuzz run. "They had the people they were looking for. They obviously already had the tranquilizer. Why come back?"

"McGee!" McGee stopped struggling with the cell phone in the corner and immediately became aware that both Anderson and Gibbs were staring at him.

"Yes, Boss?" He coughed and tried to regain composure.

"Show him what you showed just before we went into GlobalGenes." He demanded.

"Yes, Boss." McGee got straight to work and very quickly he image was drawn up on the screen in the lab.

Anderson stared at it a moment.

"I don't understand. Where did you get that?"

"Uh…" McGee tried to draw very little attention to himself. "Your network." He mumbled.

"That makes no sense." Anderson moved forward slightly to stare at the vest. The vest that was packed with C-4 and had a shrapnel lining. Only, this wasn't regular shrapnel. This was thirteen vials of an automated virus for shrapnel.. "Only two people had access to those files."

"Who?" Gibbs asked.

"Me…" He paused staring. "And Jean."

_Bahahahaha! Did it clear a few things up? Or just make it more confusing? I feel so catty today :3. Who knows whats going to happen next (I'll give you a hint- I KNOW! Teeheeehee!)_


	12. Chapter 12

Tony stretched his limbs out and it vaguely in the back of his mind that it was morning. This epiphany was immediately followed by a horrible feeling of dread.

"Rule Twelve!" He shot up, ignoring the pain in his stomach.

"What about rule twelve?" Ziva was already up and dressed.

"Gibbs is going to beat us to death with rule twelve, that's what!" Tony felt the panicked beat of his heart in his chest and resisted the urge to protect the back of his head.

"Relax, Tony." Ziva snapped, handing him a cup of coffee.

Oops. Obviously he had said something wrong.

Tony stared at the steaming cup for a moment and considered drinking it, but at the thought of consuming anything made his stomach churn worse than before… and also he ever present possibility that Ziva had poisoned it… He placed it down on the night table next to Ziva's and noticed that they were both untouched.

"Tony," Ziva drew his gaze back up to her. "Who is Wade Wilson?"

"What?" Tony smirked as he stood and replaced some of his clothes. Why on earth was Ziva asking about Wade Wilson?

"Wade Wilson." Ziva stated again and shifted uncomfortably. "It was a name on the registry. Along with Remy LaBeau and Scott Summers. They sounded familiar. I thought you might know."

"They're X-men characters." Tony laughed.

"X-men?" The words felt foreign on Ziva's tongue.

"Comic books started in the early sixties featuring a group of mutants with super abilities fighting against other mutants with super abilities." Tony supplied the information to her. "Wade Wilson, also known as Deadpool, was a mercenary with awesome healing abilities. Remy LaBeau, also known as Gambit, could charge things with kinetic energy. And Scott Summers, also known as Cyclops, could shoot wicked lasers out of his eyes."

Ziva stared at him for a moment. "I am assuming you had a very lonely childhood."

Neither could see the other one's face as Tony pulled his shirt over his head, which meant neither saw the look of pure agony that crossed both of their expressions simultaneously. They were both to proud to show the other their pain.

"Why would someone lie about their names on a motel registry?" Ziva inquired, her face composed once again.

"I honestly don't know, Zee-vah." He applied his teasing tone to distract from the obvious pain etched in his face which he quickly masked with his signature DiNozzo grin.

She didn't seem to notice, so he assumed that he was in the clear. Or that she just didn't care… also a possibility.

"We should go." Ziva stated turning toward the door. "I asked around. Not only are there only three buildings in this poor excuse for a town, no one owns a phone." She tried to keep the disgust out of her voice with little success.

Tony opened the door for her with another charming smile and then grimaced as she passed. He felt like a jerk. He had said one thing about their night together last night, and it had been an exclamation that someone might kill them for it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He wasn't paying attention as he closed the motel door behind him, still letting his thoughts wander. He collided with Ziva.

"Hey!" He shouted out of shock and gave Ziva a harsh look.

She didn't respond.

"Ziva?" He waved his had in front of her vacant face and then tried to follow her gaze.

"Why is my car here?" She asked.

"Uh… Good question…" He looked at the little red car that he despised with all of his soul. He had almost died in that car on more than one occasion.

Ziva took a step forward in confusion and lifted her arm in the general direction of the car in disbelief.

"Why is my car here?" She repeated.

Tony was about to give some witty assurance to her that maybe it was just some sort of trick, but a funny feeling settled into his stomach. It wasn't the pain he had been feeling for the past couple of hours, this unsettling feeling was much more familiar to him.

It was the feeling one gets when there is a gun pointed at them.

_BANG! _

_-_

_Yes, It's a little short and I'm a little late, but, really, my catty-ness is suchan ass, toying with your emotions like that- BAD CATTY-NESS! Muwahaha! Don't worry, I shant (shant is a hilarious word)be mangling your hearts for much longer- the end is in sight! _


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter 13! Exciting! Also, I am so, so sorry for posting the first chapter of that other story before I was finished with this one. Bad Jamie! *slaps back of hand* Very bad! It's cool though- I estimate two or three more chapters of this :3 and I am definitely stoked to see the reactions I get to this one. _

Without thought Tony leaped in front of Ziva. The bullet connected with his shoulder and the force of it sent both Ziva and Tony stumbling down into the dusty road.

"Jesus H. Christ!" Tony cursed, scorned beyond imagining and pressing his hand against his bloody shirt.

"I suggest you keep the noise to a minimum," A cold voice silenced his cries of pain. "Unless, that is you want to die. The first shot was a warning; they get much more fatal after that."

"Who are you?" Ziva found her voice again, and it was as cold and as hard as their new guest's. Or rather, guests'. There were two.

"Oh, how rude of me Special Agent David," He leaned in closer and Tony could make out his frosty amber eyes in a quickly fading world, along with the bulky shape of another man behind him. "I am Joey Luarzen, and this is my esteemed associate Rob Newt. Obviously we put to much faith in Roman to keep you for one night." Luarzen smiled a mirthless smile and Tony attempted to make his body cooperate long enough to knock a few teeth out of that smile.

Ziva was thinking on the same line as him and struck out like lightning. But the other man was faster, hitting her on the forehead with the butt of the gun and knocking her out cold.

Tony made an attempt to get up, but the pain- all of it- in his stomach, in his head, in his shoulder- they were all working against him.

He hit the ground. Hard.

Everything went black.

-

Anderson was sitting in a chair, chained there by Gibbs' hand cuffs, which he had actually put on himself in order to be more cooperative with the case, considering he was now one of their prime suspects, and he was whistling. McGee was desperately trying to find Jean at any cost and sweating that it might be too late.

And Gibbs. Well, Gibbs was trying to pinpoint the exact moment his life had become so damn complicated. On a side note, he was also trying to figure out how to run Abby's computer. Which file was the one with all the stuff he needed in it? Or was it a program? Was there a difference?

"Column two, second from the top." Anderson pointed out.

"Right…" Gibbs resisted breaking the damn piece of technology.

"Here, let me." Anderson rolled forward on the chair and ran his own background check.

Gibbs watched this with confusion.

"Oh, damn." Anderson looked at the screen at read his own background check. "They counted that thing with the dolphin?"

Gibbs read over his shoulder. "How does one steal a dolphin?"

"I honestly don't know, someone spiked my drink, and next thing I know, there's a dolphin in my pool." Anderson shrugged.

Gibbs turned to look at the man again. Obviously he was going to be slightly eccentric. He was rich.

"Wait," Anderson stood up, dragging half of the chair at a leaning angle at it looked like he had just had some sort of epiphany. "Why would a thief, a bomb maker, and a kidnapper be working together?"

Gibbs had already thought of this, and dismissed it as something for later review, but Anderson found it much more interesting.

"They met while they all lived in Austria." McGee suggested, paying strict attention to what the man was saying.

"If they met in Austria, and were all born in countries other than the US," Anderson began to pace, the chair trailing behind him. "Why kidnap NCIS agents? None of them had any connections with Israeli government, or acts against it, so I think we can rule out Agent David's involvement with Mossad to be the guiding factor with this abduction. And we know for fact that Roman Chezick built the bomb because it's his style. And we also know that someone in my company was involved because of the virus and the files being located on my network. I think they might have been collected in Austria for this job specifically." Anderson finished, stroking his chin in a thoughtful gesture.

"Wow…" McGee raised his eyebrows. "You should be involved with law enforcement." He said sincerely.

"I would," Anderson replied, still deep in thought. "But being a billionaire is much more fun."

"McGee." Gibbs had already been moving into action since Anderson's first few words.

"Boss," McGee mimicked his motions and grabbed all of the things he was sure they would need, completely oblivious to where they were going.

"Have you found Jean yet?"

"Yes, boss. Airport. Plane leaves for Spain in twelve minutes.

"Good, we'll be there in three." Gibbs stated and then addressed Anderson. "Start working on-."

"Already on it." Anderson assured him. "But, first I think you should know that Jean has a tendency to carry around a gun or two… or five."

Great.


	14. Chapter 14

_Gah! I sorry! This is really late, but 1, I was helping with Grease at the high school and it took for-ev-ver out of my life and number 2, there was this guy there, and I use the term 'guy' lightly because obviously he had to be from some other dimension to be that attractive, so I was also really busy mooning over him. :D Alrighty then! Chapter 14!_

Ziva was tense, even before she opened her eyes from her fitful sleep. She hated this part. She knew this part, and she despised it.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and was greeted with an open-handed slap across her face.

"Looks like little Ziva is awake." Someone sneered while dots danced across her vision.

Intimidation. It was a good interrogation technique which generally required less physical torment and more mental distress. Calling you by your first name, making sure you had very little sleep, making sure one person was in the room at almost all times, separating you from your comrades…

At that last thought Ziva forced her vision to clear and she looked around in a panic.

No Tony.

"Oh, I am sorry." The voice greeted her again with the lingering scoff. "Were you looking for Agent DiNozzo… Tony?"

She struggled ferociously against her restraints, wanting nothing more than to feel her fingers around this man's throat. Laurzen, was it? And his friend Newt. She'd have to remember those names when she left their bodies behind in the dust.

"Why am I here?" Ziva tried to play up her hurt body to seem more vulnerable and only barely avoided saying the actual question she wanted to ask. Where is Tony?

Laurzen's eyes laughed at her while his mouth created a scornful smile and he refused to answer her. He was much better at this then Chezick had been.

"I have one very simple question." Laurzen stated clearly, moving his hand to Ziva's throat. "You will answer it. Correctly." He said like it was a fact.

"And what makes you so sure I'll do that?" Ziva forced her voice not to tremble. She was a warrior. She would be brave.

"I was hoping you would ask." His cold eyes left imprints on her mind as he took a step out of the way and whistled loudly. Roman Chezick made his way through the door. Tony was dragged slightly behind him.

"Are you ready to hear my question?" Laurzen asked, malice clenched between his teeth.

Ziva nodded. Her eyes were stuck on Tony… it looked like he was drowning in a pool of his own blood.

Laurzen leaned forward, grabbing her full attention.

"Where is the bomb?"

-

Gibbs was tired. Mentally. Physically.

And he was mad.

Jean was sitting in front of him. She was mad.

The six guns they had found on her person were laid out in front of her. Gibbs was almost positive that if they could have felt emotions they would have been mad too.

"Do you mind telling me-." He started.

"No." Jean cut him off with a cold look.

Gibbs felt his forehead drop into his hands. Why him? Had he murdered a house full of orphans or something in a past life?

"Why were you going to Spai-." He began to question again.

"Paid vacation." Jean cut him off again.

He exhaled roughly.

"How did you plan to-."

"The airline is a private one owned by my boss. Solely by my boss. If I wanted to bring a little self defense with me, no one would stop me." She, yet again, disrupted him.

Gibbs resisted the urge to slam his head down on the desk. It must have been a house full of orphans and puppies. And he must have burned it to the ground.

-

Anderson whistled to himself, swiveling around in his chair and taking in the lab.

He really hadn't taken Gibbs for a trusting sort of man, and was slightly confused by his willingness to have him come along. But the man was desperate.

And if there was one thing Anderson knew how to exploit, it was desperation.

He was business man. The world was shades of money as far as he was concerned.

He tapped on another pattern of keys on the computer in front of him- Gibbs wanted a cure to the little mishap with the tranqilizers. Well, Anderson was going to give him a cure. That was, provided the two agents were still alive, which Anderson doubted to an extreme.

Well, at least one of them was alive. He knew that for fact. And if any knowledge to the contrary reached him, he was going to be a very angry billionaire.

He paid well.

He expected results.


	15. Chapter 15

_My laptop is a ho… That is all…._

Abby stretched out lightly on the couch in her lab. She liked naps, naps were good. She didn't like being woken from naps, evil cell phones that rang in the middle of your awesome CafPow dreams were bad.

She rooted through her bag that was laying directly beside her on the floor until she pulled out a vibrating cell phone. She saw the caller ID and didn't fell tired at all.

"Gibbs?" Abby asked, panic coloring her voice slightly. "Is everything okay?"

Pause.

"He's in my lab?" She responded to what ever Gibbs had just said with reproached astonishment and fell to the floor.

Second, slightly longer pause.

"I get that, but I don't like people in my lab. She has special needs." Abby patted the ground fondly.

Abby sat bolt up right to whatever Gibbs said next.

"Are you sure. And I mean, like, super sure." Her eyes were wide with some cocktail of fear, shock and excitement.

…

"That doesn't mean anything," Abby snorted into the phone. "The last time you said that we arrested a guy who actually turned out to be woman, who actually turned out to be innocent."

Gibbs said something else to her and Abby nodded her head, then realizing that he couldn't see her she said. "Right, I'll make sure it gets done. Make sure you get Tony and Ziva… Alive. Okay, Gibbs?"

"Thanks, Abs." Gibbs said from the other side of the phone, looking directly at Jean. He snapped the phone shut. "And thank you, Jean."

She smiled warmly. "Glad to help."

-

Ziva stared at Tony, dumbfounded.

"Where is it?" Laurzen repeated, his voice chilly and clipped.

"Let Tony go and I will tell you." Ziva attempted to bargain as a last ditch effort to keep him safe. He never should have been part of this, they were after her.

"No." Laurzen replied. "Tell me where the bomb is." He growled, obviously starting to loose his patience.

Ziva still looked at Tony. What was she going to do? Condemn Tony and herself to death just to foil an evil man's plan or save him and suffer the consequences?

"Ziva." Laurzen's voice held warning.

Ziva swallowed.

"Ziva?" A broken voice echoed up to her ears.

"It appears Mr. DiNozzo has finally graced us with his presence." Laurzen smirked as her grabbed the back of Tony's shirt and yanked him into a semi-upright position.

"Ziva?" Tony repeated and looked around. Ziva could hardly keep the tears out of her eyes. She couldn't kill him.

Newt pulled out a butterfly blade, expertly flicking it open; he pressed one of the sharp corners against Tony's throat.

"Tell us or he dies." Laurzen said without taking his eyes off of Ziva for a moment.

Ziva frantically searched for some ulterior way. There had to be some way where no one got hurt.

Ziva's resolve slipped away.

She knew better than to think that there was some way in the world where people wouldn't be hurt. People were always hurt, at least in this situation she was able to choose who those people were, and there were most definitely _not _going to be Tony.

"Alright," Ziva began to talk…

-

Tony's world was darkness. Darkness and 'ow'. 'Ow' wasn't a very accurate description of whatever sensation was building in his head and shoulder but it was the only expression that could completely wind it's was through his mind.

'Ow' made itself know again, this time in his stomach and he decided it was high time that he found consciousness. Pulling through the layers of black he opened his eyes.

There was a ground below him, which was to be expected considering it was _below _him, but it was covered in blood. How odd.

It was _a lot _of blood too. Whoever was the donor of it would certainly be feeling a bit out of it at the moment.

He paused a moment in his train of thought, distracted by a spider crossing the floor.

The spider ran over someone's foot.

_Oh, _thought Tony. _There's someone else here too. … Weird. … Is that where that buzzing is coming from?_

He concentrated on the buzzing and discovered it wasn't buzzing at all. It was voices. And Tony assumed they were saying words, but couldn't rouse enough sanity to pay attention to them. He caught a few as they flew by him. _'Where'… 'Tony'… 'Bomb'… 'Ziva'…_

Tony let those words swirl around in his mind for a moment.

'_Where' _

Well, that was simple enough. Someone was asking a question. Where? Where what? A good question was - Where the hell was he?

'_Tony' _

Easier still. He was Tony. Someone was talking about Tony… who was he...

'_Bomb'_

That was harder. Bomb? There was a bomb? Tony remembered something that could have been a bomb, only it looked more like a vest… it had had a lot of explosives on it though, it could have passed as a bomb.

'_Ziva'_

Ziva? Ziva...

"Ziva?" Tony felt his lips move. He remembered Ziva. He remembered her fiery eyes and quick jibes as she and he teased each other. He remembered the soft curve of her mouth as she smiled at one of his jokes. He remembered the contours of her body.

"It appears Mr. DiNozzo has finally graced us with his presence." A cold, sarcastic voice addressed him, making his head hurt more.

Tony was hauled to his feet, sending his head spinning and causing his vision to fade in and out.

"Ziva?" He felt himself repeat dumbly.

His eyes searched the room as his vision cleared slightly. Ziva was staring at him, genuine tears in her eyes.

Tony suddenly felt something cold against his throat.

"Tell us, or he dies." The same cold voice said.

Ziva started talking, Tony didn't really pay attention to what she was saying- he was busy flexing his fingers … he rotated his wrists… shrugged his shoulders… wriggled his feet… bent his knees slightly…

Everything was functioning.

He wasn't restrained.

He swallowed, the blade against his throat pressed firmly against his skin.

His hands balled up into fists.

Someone's day just turned very bad.


	16. Chapter 16

_Gah! I'm a dirty Liar! Hate meee! I said I was going to be done by now, and I liiiiiieeeeedddd! *slams head down on desk* imaliar! I promise though –PROMISE- two more chapters! TWO! _

…_._

_TWO!_

_-_

Robert Newt had grown up in a small town where windows were clean and smiles were perky. His mother had been a large Hungarian woman with a temper a fraction of her size. His father was the same. He had had two older brothers who had abandoned the house the moment they turned old enough to take care of themselves, leaving him in an abusive house; eventually he started to turn the abuse back.

Roman Chezick was born in Portugal, his parents both had anonymous jobs and he moved and had his name changed frequently. Eventually, in Italy, he managed to make a friend at the age of 16. That friend was a small time bomb maker, and taught him a thing or two about causing fear. Chezick became quite adept at the trade very quickly.

Joseph Laurzen had discovered he was very apt to do the things that others weren't able to when he was 6 and a half, a girl down the street asked him if he would take care of a bully for her. Laurzen demanded proper payment for his services and within six hours the bully was in the hospital with a severely broken arm and a concussion. That was the day he had found his calling.

_Two months ago_

It had been complete coincidence that the three of these men had been in Austria at the same time when each had gotten a letter with an odd logo on the front. It looked like the world being overtaken by a virus. The virus spelled out G-L-O-B-A-L-G-E-N-E-S.

Unable to suppress their interests, they all opened the letter.

Inside there had been a business card with the words _Call me _scrawled across the white paper. They all followed the instructions.

"My name is Scott Anderson." The clipped voice answered all of their calls. "And at this very moment, I am watching you. You have two options. Either I pushed the big red button on my desk that makes the pathetic existence you call you life cease, or I hit the enter key on my computer and give you a ticket to Washington D.C. so that you can do a little job for me."

All of them accepted, unwilling to put the stranger's words to the test.

When they had reached their destination, in front of a tall man with grey hair and green eyes, they had no idea what to expect.

"It's a very simple job." The man stated, his words demanding respect. "I wish to see that a government building meet a rather catastrophic end in the near future, seemingly by the hands of one of it's own agents."

Laurzen understood immediately, having spoken the language of the deal before, but Chezick and Newt were more freelance and needed simpler terms to be able to understand.

"I want government building to go boom." Anderson clarified. "Lucky for all of you, I've already done my research. Robert Newt, your job is to kidnap this woman," He gave Newt a file with a picture of a mocha skinned woman with dark brown hair and eyes to match. "Roman Chezick, your job is to make a bomb that includes these vials in it." He passed a box of fourteen vials in it to Chezick, conveniently forgetting to mention that they were an automated virus. "And Joseph Laurzen, your job is to make sure botht he woman and the bomb are together at the NCIS headquarters when the bomb goes boom."

Anderson took a moment to stare down all of the men. " Are these instructions clear?"

They all nodded. Laurzen spoke up.

"How much?" He asked.

"I'm sorry?" Anderson turned to him.

"How much are you going to pay?" Laurzen clarified.

"Three million." The men started to shuffle from foot to foot with excitement. "Each."

They all smiled, Anderson's deal had obviously been accepted. They turned to leave.

"And gentlemen," Anderson's voice called them back. "I do not tolerate failure."

-

_Present._

Anderson leaned back in the chair, one hand supporting his head; the other still chained to the arm of the chair, his whistles of contentment filled the air around him

Life was good for the billionaire. His secretary was most likely dead at this point, two NCIS agents were infected with is favorite poison, the bomb filled with an automated virus was about four hours away from destroying a government building and causing an epidemic in one of the most populated areas in the United States, and he was about to make a _whole _lot of money.

Money made him happy.

He heard someone's footsteps behind him and he was immediately at attention. His eyes snapped open and he turned to the intruder.

She was pale and had a tendency towards black. Her hair was done up in two high pig tails and she did not look very happy.

"What are you doing in my lab?" She demanded.

"Mixing a cure for a faulty tranquilizer." Anderson fabricated.

"Hmm." The girl gave him a once over. "If that were true, wouldn't you have some materials or something?" She said with an undercurrent of accusation in her tone.

"I was thinking it over first." Anderson kept lying.

"Oh good then," The girl glared at him. "I guess I'll help."

Anderson steamed for a moment, now he was actually going to make the cure even though the effects would be setting in any minuet now. The two agents were as good as dead.

"Fine." Anderson smiled, pretending to be pleased with the help he was about to receive. "I'm Scott Anderson." He introduced, extending his hand out for her to shake.

"Abby." Her response was short and clipped as she rejected his hand and snatched the tranquilizer's properties off the table next to him. "Let's get started." She ground her teeth together.

-

"And then you take a kind of left, you sort of angle your body left, but not exactly, and there is a big brown tree with green leaves right in front of you, you can't miss it." Ziva was rambling about where they had put the vest, trying to make her instructions intentionally complicated. Tony had stopped looking at her, his preference being to stare at the ground instead of at the woman who was sacrificing other people to save his life. She was sure that pissed him off.

Newt had a blade pressed against his throat with obvious practice. Firm enough against the throat the person underneath it wouldn't try to move, loose enough that they could swallow or even talk without being impaled.

Tony coughed in Newt's arms. The blade pressed against his throat nicked the skin a little bit, but it was nothing crucial.

Newt pulled back slightly as Tony coughed again, more violently this time.

"What's wrong with him?" Laurzen demanded, his attention drawn away from Ziva's story for a moment.

Tony continued to cough viciously, Newt pushed him away at the moment where Tony coughed up some blood.

"Tony!" Ziva heard her concerned voice call out for him, well there was no hiding it anymore - she did have feelings for him.

Tony slumped to the floor, back down into the puddle of his own blood, the coughing continuing.

Newt, Chezick, and Laurzen stood aside, confused as to what to do with the sick man. It wasn't as if they could take him to a hospital or a doctor. They certainly weren't going to let go of their insurance policy, however.

"Newt," Laurzen pushed Newt forward as soon as Tony's coughing fit ceased. "Check him."

Newt stepped forward; Ziva saw the hesitation in his step through her tear filled eyes… was Tony… dead? Newt poked Tony's back tentatively. No response.

Tears spilled freely over Ziva's eyes now, through a great effort, she managed to keep them silent tears.

Newt poked him again.

Tony put his fist in Newt's face.

"Fellas," Tony smirked while he stood up. Ziva was stunned into silence. "I think this game just got complicated."


	17. Chapter 17

_Muwahaha! Second to last chapter, and yet so many things still don't make sense… all in good time dearies. Also, GABI! I thought you were dead! Yay! About the *ahem* that, I'm gonna bring it back up and hopefully clear a few more things up. C: Alrighty then, with no more ado and very little shame I give you chapter 17!_

The drumming of his fingers was the only thing that was keeping Gibbs sane at this point.

The insistent blaring of car horns and mish-mosh of music from other cars in the miles of traffic blended horribly with the tapping of Jean's heels and the humming of McGee as he typed away at one of his computers.

He needed coffee. Stat.

Five FBI agents, four worried workers, three days without sleep, two agents missing, and a god damn partridge in a pear tree. Times like these he wished he had stayed in Mexico.

"Boss," McGee broke through Gibbs' day dreams about sandy beaches and no need for razors. "I've got some news…" He paused.

_If you say what I think you're going to say… _Gibbs threatened McGee silently.

"I don't think you're going to like it."

The only thing that saved McGee's life that moment was the break in traffic.

"What?" Gibbs grumbled.

"I was going through Anderson's accounts," McGee tapped on a few keys, obviously going back over them. "Everything's been accounted for, except for six million dollars that just… disappeared."

Gibbs grunted his understanding, his fingers drumming out a quicker beat as traffic grew thick again.

"Told you so." Jean smirked from beside him.

-

Tony squarely kicked the one with the knife in the chest, swiftly stealing the blade from him and rolling his shoulders. He could hardly feel the hole in his shoulder any more. It just blended with the other pains. And, It. Pissed. Him. Off.

He bashed his forehead into the man's head; he fell to the ground where he was either unconscious or smart enough not to get up.

Exhaling a deep breath roughly, he turned to the other two men.

"Next?"

Chezick took up his offer.

Tony tore down the man before there was any competition. Sooner than he could recover from his small victory, the third man, Laurzen, elbowed him in the shoulder.

"Good to see you up and about, Tony." Laurzen sneered from above him as Tony collapsed to the ground with the spike in the pain.

"You're a dirty fighter." Tony coughed up a little bit more blood.

"So I've been told." The cold chuckle that partnered that statement made Tony's resolve not to kill anyone that day fade slightly. He clenched his jaw against his chattering teeth and made his grip around the cold metal in his hand tighter. "Are you going to whine about it, Tony?" Another cold jibe escaped Laurzen.

"Not at all…" Tony rose to his feet. "Queensbury rules?*"

"Wha-."

Tony struck out with the knife in his hand, but not totally relying on his weapon as he aimed a good kick for a place you kick when you don't want to make friends. Laurzen knocked the knife out of Tony's hand and aimed another blow for Tony's shoulder.

Both men collapsed to the ground in agony.

"Bastard." Laurzen spat, clutching in between his legs.

"Cheat." Tony grasped his shoulder.

"I think we should take a deep, relaxing breath," Ziva's cool voice worked over Tony's ears and had a sort of sobering effect. That and the fact that she had managed to slip the restraints… again. "Don't you think so Mr. Laurzen?" Ziva held the discarded butterfly blade up to Laurzen's throat.

"Finally," Tony said, his good humored smile firmly back in place as he stood up. "You took your sweet time getting involved."

"I was still reeling from the moment or two where I thought you were dead." Ziva shot back sarcastically, smiling her own joyful smile.

"Would you have missed me?" Tony teased.

"I certainly would not have missed the movie trivia." Ziva replied, the same tone of teasing found in her voice.

"Oh, please Zee-vah." Tony rolled his eyes. "You love the movie trivia."

Ziva mumbled something unintelligible.

"I'm sorry. What was that?" Tony smirked.

She mumbled again, only slightly louder.

"Still not getting anything."

"I would have missed you." She admitted. "For some reason, I seem to like having you around."

"Could it possibly be that you maybe, and get this, just _maaaybe, _like me." Tony turned on his DiiNozzo smile. Ziva laughed.

"Do you people every stop talking?" Laurzen yelled.

"Way to be a moment killer." Tony muttered.

-

Anderson mixed together a few more chemicals and watched to make sure the reaction was one that would be suitable for the cure he was creating. He could feel the eyes boring holes in the back of his head.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He turned to look at Abby, who had kept her glare near constant in the few minutes she had been with him in the lab.

"Oh… no." Abby shook her head and tried to look innocent, but Anderson could feel her glare return full force the moment he turned back around. He heard her mutter something crude about his mother and the only thing that kept him from doing something rash was the soothing thoughts of money.

He laughed lightly to himself as his hands kept doing the manual labor, his thoughts drifted away.

_Raindrops on rubble, and money in bank vaults,_

_Causing explosions where no one knows it's my fault,_

_Controlling an entire company with nothing but strings,_

_These are a few of my favorite things._

He hummed to himself.

"Stop it." Abby snipped from behind him, but he was in an exceptional mood right now and not even Abby's prickly demeanor would keep him from being happy. Hell, it would take everything he had worked for in the past seven months to come unraveling at his feet in some sort of horrific incident that had been set in motion the moment he had tried to manipulate the very agency he planned to destroy in a matter of hours to wipe the smile off his face.

And, honestly, what were the chances of that happening?

_-_

_*Queensbury Rules- Code of __boxing__ rules. It was written by John Graham Chambers (1843 – 1883) and published in 1867 under the sponsorship of John Sholto Douglas, marquess of Queensberry (1844 – 1900), who was known also for precipitating the downfall of __Oscar Wilde__. Besides calling for the wearing of gloves, the rules forbade wrestling holds, required a fallen man to be given a free count of 10 to recover, established the three-minute round with a one-minute rest period, and disallowed seconds from entering the ring during the round._

…_How obvious is it that I copied and pasted that?..._


	18. Chapter 18

Laurzen made his glare very well known to his two former hostages, who were now roaming freely around the cell that had been assembled for the direct purpose of keeping them a few months ago. And now look at it. They were the only ones who were free, he and his two comrades had been duct taped to the wall.

"You mind if we use this?" Tony asked him rhetorically as he held up Laurzen's cell phone. Laurzen narrowed his eyes in response, unable to say the horrible words he actually wanted to spew because of the duct tape over his lips.

_I hope you die. _He tried to telepathically transmit, and at the rate the man's health was deteriorating, it didn't seem like a far fetched wish. The hole in his shoulder had mostly clotted up, but still oozed slightly, his face was pale and his eyes were slightly blood shot and Laurzen noticed that he curved his spine slightly enough to indicate abdominal discomfort.

_So the boss was right. _Laurzen mused before turning his attention to Ziva. She looked slightly worse for her ware as well, not as bad as Tony, but not exactly the embodiment of health. She kept glancing at Tony They were slick glances that always went unnoticed and reeked of affection.

She didn't seem to realize she was getting very similar ones from him as well.

Laurzen rolled his eyes. If they started making out or something he was going to vomit. Duct tape be damned.

Tony punched in whatever number it was that he wanted to contact into the phone and whistled slightly through his chapped lips while he waited for someone to answer.

"Do you think he's going to be mad?" He asked Ziva with a hint of worry in his voice.

"He's always mad." Ziva shrugged, sneaking in another look at Tony.

Whoever they were describing sounded an awful lot like someone Laurzen knew, and Anderson was going to be _pissed _when he found out that Tony wasn't dead and that Ziva wasn't set up to be blown up.

People underestimate how hard life is being a gun for hire.

"Uh- Hey, Boss…" Tony responded to whatever voice finally picked up the phone.

-

Gibbs was forty nine seconds of traffic away from shooting himself.

_D.C. afternoon. _He reminded himself. Though, even by D.C.'s standards this was just ridiculous.

The cars went at a complete stand still again and all of the _noise _started to overtake him. Car horns screeching out empty threats and swears. Radios infecting the air with pounding bases and abrasive lyrics. The soft, harsh, clicks of Jean's heels as she tapped her feet. McGee, giving up his humming for flat out singing. And there was that _buzzing. _What the hell was that all about?

It took a moment for Gibbs to realize it was his phone buzzing in his pocket. He flipped it open and placed it against his ear without looking at the Caller ID, just glad for the distraction.

"Gibbs." He stated.

"Uh- Hey, Boss…" A voice that he had been almost sure he would never hear again said.

"DiNozzo?" It seemed like the world suddenly went quite when he stated the name, McGee and Jean were at full attention, listening to what they could of the conversation. "DiNozzo, where the hell are you?" Gibbs asked gruffly.

"That is actually a really good question."

"Is Ziva there?" Was the next question that tumbled out of Gibbs' lips before he could ask the other questions that were troubling him.

"Oh yeah." Tony stuttered. "She's here, she's fine. Hey Ziva, you wanna talk to Gibbs?"

Gibbs narrowed his eyes and felt his suspicions arouse at Tony's awkward manner, but he put it off for the moment, not being able to pinpoint the origin. "Are you both alright?"

"Yes and no…" Tony answered.

"What does that mean?"

"Well… I was shot… and beaten up… and threatened at knife and gun point…" Tony said. "And Ziva… actually Ziva's in pretty good shape."

Gibbs put his forehead in his palm. "What happened?"

"It's a great story, really it is," Tony stumbled around his sentence again. "But, I- uh… don't want to ruin the surprise…"

Gibbs finally realized what that little spark of suspicion had been. "DiNozzo…" He growled.

"It wasn't my fault!" Tony yelled. "She seduced _me!" _

"_Hey!" _He heard someone protest in the background.

"Not now, Ziva," Tony raved. "He's gonna kill us!"

Gibbs was caught between slamming his head into the steering wheel until he got a concussion, or doing something constructive. In the end he opted for both.

"Track this." He called, tossing the phone over his shoulder to a very confused McGee, and then proceeded to beat his head against the car.

-

Abby glared at Anderson, Gibbs' words to keep a good watch on him still ran through her head.

And now he was humming _The Sound of Music. _Who does that? This was serious! Ziva and Tony's lives could be on the line and here this guy was making the cure while humming about his favorite things. Ass.

Abby had already seriously considered killing the man, but since he was the only thing in between Ziva, Tony, and a horrible death she decided to suffer him a little bit longer.

"Done." Anderson stated, pushing away all of his materials to make room for the large vial of an electric blue liquid. "5 cc's of this and they should be right as rain." He sounded like he was trying to keep from laughing at his own private joke.

"That doesn't look natural." Abby said after a moment.

"That's because it isn't."

"Hmm." Abby grunted, keeping her glare constant.

Anderson nearly jumped out of his seat when a horrible scream pierced the air.

"Calm down." She commanded. "It's just my phone." She unhooked the electronic device from her hip and connected it to her ear.

"Abby." Gibbs' voice stilled any greeting she was about to say. "Don't say a word I don't tell you to, alright? Yes or no."

"Yes…" Abby was confused.

"Tony and Ziva are alive. Don't scream." Even Gibbs' command barely killed the screech of victory that rose in her throat. "What I want you to do is…" He continued in her ear, giving her a list of instructions that seemed slightly less complicated then trying to set up some sort of VCR from hell.

"You got all that?" Gibbs asked when he was finished.

"Yes?" Abby replied as she clipped the phone shut and stealthily set about her new duties.

She needed some caffeine.

-

Anderson turned around, fully expecting to see Abby there, glaring at him, but she had disappeared.

_Weird._ He thought, looking around. He had been sure that the girl wouldn't stop glaring at him for the world. But she had picked up her phone… maybe she was somewhere else having a more descript conversation than the 'Yes, No' one that she had had behind him.

Yes, that had to be it.

He looked around again.

He could have sworn he had heard her hang up the phone.

He shrugged and turned back around, trying to find something else to occupy his thoughts. He could probably poison his cure while he was waiting… wait… where the hell did the cure go?

Suddenly very frantic, Anderson ran his eyes across every surface in the lab, overturned papers and equipment, but there was nothing to be found.

He stood up, half dragging the chair he was still chained to with him and made to run out the door. When he was three feet from the door, the power went out.

"Oh, Come on!" Anderson struck uselessly against the door, which was electronically run.

_Don't panic. _He commanded himself. There had to be some sort of emergency anti-lock on the door in case someone were trapped in there. He yanked hard on the door, but it didn't give.

Alright, negative on the anti-lock.

Well, this was just friggin ridiculous. He was trapped in a room inside of a building that he was about seventy-six percent sure was going to explode in the near future.

Damn.

Alright, he just had to keep his cool, find his cell phone, call the drones and tell them not to explode the building.

He searched his pockets, nothing. He searched the surface of the desks, nothing. He checked underneath the tables, nothing. He went back through all of the motions he had made in the lab… nothing.

The door was locked, the cure was missing, his cell phone was MIA, what the hell else could go wrong?

There was the soft click of a gun being cocked beside him.

"Dammit." Anderson cursed, putting his one hand up in surrender, and the other as far up as he could without putting the chair off balance.

Agent Gibbs stood next to him solidly. Gun drawn, face set in stone. "Are you going to come quietly?" Gibbs inquired.

Anderson pretended to think this over for a moment. "No." He slipped his hand out of the cuff and kicked the chair at Gibbs before ducking behind on of the lab tables and grabbing an assortment of acidic substances.

"That wasn't the right answer." Gibbs growled, walking through the darkness, trying to track Anderson's movements.

"If I were you," Anderson said from wherever he was in the room. "I'd take me and get the hell out of here. This place is about to explode spectacularly. And, not only that, after this building goes down, everyone in the next twenty square miles is going to get sick. And everyone they come into contact with is going to get sick. And everyone those people touch are going to get sick as well."

"So, what," Gibbs addressed him, still tracking him by the sounds of breaking glass, but he was constantly moving around, and Gibbs couldn't just shoot him because that would be 'unethical' or 'against the laws' or something like that. It always was. "You're just going to make them sick and then sell the cure? That sounds like a pretty stupid plan."

"If that's all I wanted, I wouldn't have chosen a government building. A 7-11 probably would have sufficed." Anderson sneered. "Yes, I'll sell the cure, and make a good wealth at that, but afterwards, when everyone is healthy and the government is looking down at the black spot the used to be NCIS, they'll wonder why exactly an Israeli woman with such connections would do such a thing." Anderson cut himself off to allow a bark of laughter. "You see, what I want out of this is a war."

Gibbs wondered what exactly the repercussions of shooting this man would be and whether it would be worth it.

Abby had stolen all of the things he had asked her too, switched off the power, and disabled the anti-lock. Now she was en route to Tony and Ziva with the cure along with McGee with several pairs on hand cuffs. So, he was alone here with him. No one would know… No one else would be hurt.

Tempting…

-

Ziva and Tony sat together on the floor awkwardly, far enough away from their captives not to be heard, but close enough to have an eye on them.

"I can not believe you told on me." Ziva crossed her arms over chest.

"I got shot." Tony said. "You aren't allowed to be angry with me."

"You are such a child!"

"Heartless."

"Infant."

"Assassin."

"Brat."

"Seductress!"

Ziva growled with part frustration and part amusement and Tony's eyes danced with victory.

"I still can not believe you told him." Ziva pouted.

"I still can't believe we actually-."

"Actually what?" A familiar voice interrupted, followed by an, "OmigodTonywhathappenedtoyourarm!" Abby ran forward and tugged at Tony until he was standing.

"Ow!" Tony complained.

"Shut it." Abby snapped, inspecting the wound. "Hi, Ziva." She threw over her shoulder as Ziva watched the entire ordeal with her own special brand of sadistic amusement.

"I'm assuming Gibbs told you to find us then?" Tony asked, wincing as Abby prodded him.

"Oh yeah!" Abby suddenly dropped Tony's arm and rushed away to a bag she had dropped, before they knew what was happening, Ziva and Tony had both been stabbed with needles filled with some sort of blue stuff.

"I swear to God, Abby," Tony said, inspecting the spot where she had just injected him. "If that was some sort of poison as punishment for us being kidnapped without your permission, I'll-."

"Oh, hush up." Abby cut him off, still jittery from finally finding them. "That's going to make little Tony's tummy stop hurting."

"Oh…" Tony looked down at the little hole again. "Sweet."

"Are those the guys?" Abby said, finally noticing the three men secured against the wall.

"No," Tony said sarcastically. "Those were the pizza delivery guys, they messed up our order."

"No need to be snippy." Abby fired back.

"Being shot does that to me."

"Stop being such a baby." Ziva said. "I did not know this 'being shot' thing would be such an issue for you."

Abby marched resolutely over to one of the men strapped up and ripped the tape off his mouth.

"Hi, my name is Abby." She said perkily. "You are going to tell me everything you know."

"Or…" Laurzen said suspiciously.

"Or," Abby continued. "I will kill you and leave no forensic evidence."

Laurzen went white and immediately began to talk.

-

Gibbs aimed the gun at the spot he was pretty damn sure Anderson was. Not one hundred percent sure, but pretty damn. He was about to put the weight of his finger on the trigger…

Another sound of breaking glass, directly behind him.

Gibbs turned around. When the hell did Abby's lab get so big? He was sure that it had been a fourth of the size when the lights were on.

Another crack of breaking glass. Gibbs turned swiftly on his heel.

_BANG._

_-_

"Well, that makes more sense." Ziva said as McGee, who had tracked down the bomb from Tony's instructions over the phone to him before coming to their aide, cuffed the men. "They didn't care about my father at all… they just wanted to blow me up."

"It happens to the best of us." Tony comforted.

"Where is Gibbs?" Ziva turned to Abby. If it was possible, Abby went paler than usual.

-

When they approached the building, the EMT was everywhere. Apparently, someone had shut off the power and disabled the anti-lock on Abby's lab, so Gibbs and Anderson had been locked in the room together. One suffered mild acid burns, the other had been shot in the ass.

"Ohmigod!" Abby rushed Gibbs and gave him a bone cracking hug. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Abs," Gibbs shrugged her off. "He threw acid at me… who does that?"

"Well, that does count as assault, " Abby tried to cheer him up. "So, you shooting him counts as self defense."

"Good news." Gibbs grunted agreement.

"You wouldn't have shot him if he hadn't attacked you, right?" Abby asked hopefully. Gibbs gave her a look.

"Hey, Boss." McGee greeted when he walked up to him.

"McGee," Gibbs growled. "Where's DiNozzo and David?"

"Well," McGee stuttered. "Tony's getting patched up, and Ziva's hiding in the ambulance with him."

"Right." Gibbs winced slightly as he stood up and walked resolutely in the direction of the Ambulance McGee had indicated.

-

"Thanks for sticking around, Ziva." Tony said, indicating the bandages on his shoulder. On the whole, he felt a hell of a lot better. His shoulder was patched up, along with the cut on his neck, and that miracle potion Abby had pumped him full of had worked wonders, his stomach felt a thousand times better.

"It is not as I I could abandon you now," Ziva shrugged. "We have things to discuss… And I am hiding from Gibbs."

"Right, _things to discuss…" _Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

They both coughed awkwardly and shifted around uncomfortably, both not in favor of the turn of events. Up until now they really hadn't had time to discuss the night in the motel room.

"Well, Zee-vah," Tony said. "Your call."

"My call on what?" Ziva said incredulously. "Whether we have sex again?"

Tony coughed to cover up his embarrassment. "Uh… I was going to say if you wanted to go out to dinner with me again on Saturday," His charming grin was back. "But, really, if you want to escalate it that quickly, no objections here."

She punched him lightly on his uninjured shoulder. "the last time we went out to dinner, we were kidnapped and held hostage… let's go to the movies."

He smiled easily, and leaned back.

Ziva peeked around the corner of the ambulance. "Oh no!" She sat bolt up right.

"What?" Tony said, concerned with her sudden change in mood.

"Gibbs!"

Tony whipped his head around the edge as well. A _very _pissed off Leroy Jethro Gibbs was carving a path of destruction their way.

"Run!" Was the only word Tony could call out before he a Ziva took off like a shot.

They ran away together into the night.

-

_Meh, I'm no good at endings… crap, that was long. And Jamie is too little to being talking about sex *Jamie covers her little ears* _

_Oh, now should be a good time to tell you, I do not own NCIS… because if I did, things would be a hell of a lot more complicated. _


	19. One last parting shot

"Jethro?" Ducky walked up to Gibbs, his feet were propped up on top of the desk, coffee cradled in his hands and his eyes closed peacefully.

"Yeah, Ducks?" He asked without opening his eyes.

"Some of your colleagues seem to be a bit concerned after the discovery of this," He held up a piece of paper. "In the shooting range." The paper had the words _'you aren't going to like it'_ scrawled on them, and fourteen bullet holes scattered across the entirety of it. "Would you happen to know anything about it?" Ducky asked.

Gibbs looked at the paper for a moment, and then back to Ducky before leaning back again and closing his eyes.

"I'd tell you," He said, sipping contentedly on his coffee. "But you aren't going to like it."


End file.
